Russian Strikes Hit Power Grid Across 10 Ukrainian Regions as Abu Dhabi Talks Open

Russian forces struck 10 Ukrainian regions overnight in air attacks that targeted five major electrical substations, sparked widespread power outages and killed two people, Ukrainian officials said on Tuesday. The strikes landed hours before Russian, Ukrainian and United States negotiators opened two days of talks in Abu Dhabi.

Prime Minister Sergiy Koretskyi said on Telegram that the substations hit were in the Poltava, Dnipropetrovsk, Vinnytsia and Kirovohrad regions, and that the two people killed were in the Vinnytsia region. The substations carry electricity between regions, so damage at one site can cut supply far beyond the place that was hit.

What the grid operator reported

State grid operator Ukrenergo said Russia struck energy infrastructure in eight regions overnight and into the morning: Kyiv, Kharkiv, Sumy, Poltava, Dnipropetrovsk, Vinnytsia, Cherkasy and Kirovohrad. The attacks caused power outages in six regions, Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk, Kyiv, Sumy, Kharkiv and Chernihiv, Ukrenergo said on Telegram. The Independent reported the same Ukrenergo account of the eight regions attacked and the six regions left with outages.

The night of strikes began on Monday evening. Ukrainska Pravda reported that a Russian drone struck the Kholodnohirskyi district of Kharkiv and injured six people, and that damage to energy equipment in the Dnipropetrovsk region cut power to large parts of Dnipro and Kamianske.

Damage on the ground

In the southeastern Dnipropetrovsk region, Russia attacked four districts with drones more than 20 times overnight, regional officials said. In the central Kirovohrad region, civilian infrastructure came under attack, including a major home improvement store, regional governor Andriy Raikovych said.

Reuters reported that Ukraine has struggled to intercept the mounting attacks amid a shortage of weapons able to down fast-moving ballistic missiles and jet-powered drones. Moscow has expanded its attacks in recent months to strike Ukrainian businesses, consumer logistics and other economic targets, in what Reuters described as a renewed air campaign against the power grid as winter approaches.

Talks open while the grid burns

The talks in Abu Dhabi are the first three-way meeting between the three sides since February. US envoy Jared Kushner said recent contacts with both sides had "narrowed the gaps". Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said separately that Russia would not agree to an immediate ceasefire without knowing what would happen next.

For households in the six regions that woke up without power, the distance between the talks table and the grid was the story of the day. Negotiators sat down to discuss ending the war on the same morning that repair crews across Ukraine started work on substations hit overnight.