Photo: Collected

KYIV, Ukraine, Nov 9, 2025 (AFP) - Around 100,000 people were still without 
power in the northeastern Ukrainian region of Kharkiv, Kyiv authorities said 
Sunday, a day after Russia's latest attacks on energy infrastructure.

Moscow, which has escalated attacks on Ukraine's infrastructure in recent 
months, launched hundreds of drones at energy facilities across the country 
overnight into Saturday.

Some of these strikes affected the Kharkiv region, home to Ukraine's second 
biggest city, Restoration Minister Oleksiy Kuleba said.

"Time is needed to restart the equipment. Currently, around 100,000 consumers 
remain without electricity, water, and heating," Kuleba said.

Ukraine's energy minister Svitlana Grynchuk said the wave of attacks, which 
killed four people, marked "one of the most difficult nights" for Ukrainian 
energy since the Russian invasion began.

In the Poltava region, one of the most affected, power was mostly restored on 
Sunday. But damaged equipment left parts of its main city still in the dark, 
local authorities said.

State energy operator Ukrenergo implemented scheduled power cuts, allowing to 
balance the system, in most Ukrainian regions.

Russia has targeted the power and heating grid throughout its almost four-
year invasion, destroying a large part of the key civilian infrastructure.

- 'Complicates restoration' -

Moscow has switched tactics, striking simultaneously generation facilities, 
as well as power transmission and distribution systems, said deputy Minister 
of Energy Artem Nekrasov.

"This complicates the prompt restoration of normal power supply and the 
normal operation of the energy system," he said.

As with previous waves of attacks, Russia's defence ministry said it struck 
"enterprises of the Ukrainian military-industrial complex and gas and energy 
facilities that support their operation."

Ukraine has been responding with strikes on Russia's energy and oil 
facilities.

Ukrainian strikes on energy infrastructure have left more than 20,000 people 
without power in several Russian border regions, local authorities said.

Belgorod Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said the "electricity and heating supply 
network has suffered severe damage" in the regional capital of the same name.

"Several streets are affected by power issues... More than 20,000 residents 
are without electricity," he said on Telegram.

In the western Kursk region, "a fire broke out at one of the power plants in 
the village of Korenevo," cutting power to 10 localities, Governor Alexander 
Khinshtein said on Telegram.

A fire also broke out at a heating facility in the southern Voronezh region, 
according to Governor Alexander Gusev.

Russia's defence ministry, for its part, reported having shot down 44 drones 
over the border Bryansk region.

Moscow launched 69 drones at energy facilities across the country overnight 
into Sunday, of which 34 were shot down, according to the Ukrainian air 
force.