Russian strikes on energy grid force emergency blackouts
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Russian forces launched over 300 drones and a mix of Iskander and Kalibr missiles at energy infrastructure in ten regions, causing the most severe outages of the year. In Vinnytsia and Zhytomyr, hundreds of thousands are without power and electric transport has stopped. For the grid operator Ukrenergo, the immediate problem is that emergency shutdowns have made existing power-cut schedules irrelevant; the longer-term problem is that its winter forecast has just worsened.
The strikes coincided with a heavy morning of aerial bombing in residential areas. In Sloviansk, FAB-250 bombs hit apartment blocks, while in Kherson, an airstrike killed an ambulance driver and injured several children. The G7 nations now plan to provide €260m to repair the confinement structure at Chernobyl, which has been damaged by previous Russian assaults.
Kyiv is also watching Washington, where the possible return of Donald Trump is seen as a complication that would present President Zelenskyy with a choice between unappealing concessions and an even more difficult war. Domestically, the government is facing its own friction with the bureaucracy: officials are reportedly refusing to provide data on how many people have been granted deferrals from mobilization.