A Russian drone strike left thousands without electricity across Ukraine

One person was killed and several thousand others were left without electricity in several regions of Ukraine on Saturday after Russian drones attacked several power facilities overnight, according to EuroNews.com.

In the Kharkiv region, almost all districts in the city of Ciuhuiiv have been disconnected from the electricity grid, according to Mayor Halyna Minaieva. In a Facebook post, the edlil said 10 Russian attacks hit the city overnight.

One man was killed in the attacks on Kharkiv in the village of Zelenyi Hai, according to Oleh Syniehubov, the head of the military administration in the region. The Ukrainian official said a total of 12 cities were hit across the region by 23 drones.

The operator of the distribution system in the Chernihiv region reported in a post on Telegram that 17,000 residents were left without electricity after a Russian attack hit a power facility in the Koruukivka district.

In the Ulyanovsk district, an electrical substation was reportedly hit, according to Russian Telegram channels.

An educational institution in Zaporozhye caught fire after it was hit by a Russian drone, the head of the military administration in the region, Ivan Fedorov, reported. He said Russian forces had carried out five attacks on the city, also damaging residential buildings and vehicles.

Several civilian infrastructures were also hit in the Poltava region, Volodymyr Kohut, head of the regional military administration, wrote on Telegram. He said a warehouse and a commercial enterprise were damaged in the attack.

The Ukrainian air force said its air defenses shot down a total of 136 Russian drones during the overnight bombardment.

Stepping up Russian attacks on Ukrainian energy infrastructure ahead of the cold winter months has become a common tactic over the years since the full-scale invasion in 2022, which Ukrainian officials have called “weaponizing winter.”