Russia launched a large missile and drone barrage against Ukraine overnight into Saturday, triggering air raid alerts nationwide as Ukraine marked Armed Forces Day. Ukraine’s Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said at least eight people were wounded, including at least three in the Kyiv region.
Ukraine’s air force reported Russia used 653 drones and 51 missiles in the wide-reaching attack. Ukrainian forces shot down or neutralised 585 drones and 30 missiles, the air force said, while 29 locations were struck. Drone sightings were reported as far west as Lviv.
Ukrenergo, the national energy operator, said the strike targeted power stations and other energy infrastructure across several regions. The International Atomic Energy Agency said Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant temporarily lost all off-site power; although the plant is under Russian control and not in operation, it requires reliable power to cool six shut-down reactors and spent fuel, IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi warned.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said energy facilities were the main targets and reported a drone strike “burned down” the Fastiv train station in the Kyiv region. Russia’s Defence Ministry said its air defences shot down 116 Ukrainian drones over Russian territory overnight.
Separately, Russian Telegram channel Astra shared footage it said showed a fire at the Ryazan oil refinery after a Ukrainian strike; the Associated Press could not verify the video. Ryazan regional governor Pavel Malkov reported a residential building damaged and drone debris on the grounds of an industrial facility but did not explicitly confirm damage to the refinery. Ukrainian long-range strikes on Russian refineries aim to curtail Moscow’s oil export revenue that helps finance the war.
The barrage came as US special envoy Steve Witkoff, Jared Kushner, and Ukrainian negotiators Rustem Umerov and Andriy Hnatov met in Florida for talks on a security framework for postwar Ukraine. The group said talks had made progress but cautioned that “real progress toward any agreement” will depend on Russia’s willingness to commit to long-term peace.
Ukrainian officials and Western allies have accused Russia of attempting to cripple Ukraine’s power grid to deny civilians heat, light and running water during a fourth consecutive winter, a tactic Kyiv calls the “weaponising” of cold.
