Russian Drones Kill Three in Ukraine, Cut Power to 370,000

Russian drones killed at least three people across Ukraine early on Friday, October 16, and cut power to about 370,000 people in the northwest after strikes on the energy grid, officials said. The attacks hit homes, shops and a food plant in four regions, and they came while European leaders were gathering in Brussels to back Ukraine for another winter of war.

Two people died and 12 were wounded in attacks on three districts of the eastern city of Kharkiv, Governor Oleh Syniehubov said. In Volyn region, which borders Poland, a drone strike on a food processing facility killed one person and wounded eight others, Governor Roman Romaniuk said.

Power out in the northwest

The strikes on the grid left about 370,000 people without electricity in Volyn, Romaniuk said. Repair crews had reconnected about 100,000 people by later in the morning. That still left about 270,000 people without power, a figure Swedish wire TT also reported on Friday morning.

In Lutsk, the regional capital, Mayor Andriy Razumovskyi said the blackout could last for at least 24 hours. Poland scrambled fighter jets while the attacks were under way, the Polish military said. Polish officials later said no violation of the country's airspace had been recorded.

Drones also hit at least two shopping centres. One was in Sumy, a northern city close to the front line. The other was in the neighbouring Rivne region, where Governor Oleksandr Koval said seven people were wounded. Emergency service pictures from Sumy showed the damaged entrance of the centre there.

Brussels backs Kyiv as the strikes land

The overnight attacks came one day after Ukraine resumed strikes on Russian oil refineries. Ukrainian drones hit the refinery at Ryazan on Thursday, October 15, after a three day pause. Kyiv said it stopped pausing because Russia had kept hitting Ukrainian power plants and other energy sites, despite an energy ceasefire announced by US President Donald Trump that neither side had confirmed in full.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy spent Friday, October 16 at a European Union summit in Brussels. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the bloc had supported Trump's energy ceasefire, but Russia had not respected it for a single minute and had escalated instead. She said the EU is preparing a 22nd package of sanctions on Russia, and that existing sanctions will not be lifted unless Russia stops the war.

European Council President Antonio Costa said EU support for Ukraine remains strong, and leaders discussed winter help for Ukraine's energy system. That help now has a fresh test. Crews in Volyn are working to bring back power to hundreds of thousands of people before the next night of strikes.