Russia fires 289 drones and 76 missiles at Ukraine's power grid overnight

Russia launched a “complex, massive attack” overnight on Ukraine, aimed mainly at energy sites, with 289 attack drones, 17 ballistic missiles and 59 cruise missiles, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Tuesday, as he flew to Berlin for talks with German leaders.

The statement, posted on Zelensky’s official channels, says the main target was energy: power generation facilities and substations in the Odesa, Cherkasy, Zhytomyr, Vinnytsia, Kharkiv, Dnipro, Chernivtsi, Chernihiv and Rivne regions. “In many cities and communities, emergency and unscheduled power outages are ongoing,” he said.

A hospital hit in Kharkiv

In Kharkiv, Zelensky said, the Russians “directly struck a city clinical hospital”. Seventy-three people were injured and the cardiology department, where patients were being treated, was damaged. We have not seen an independent account of the hospital strike, and Zelensky’s account is the source for the figures. Russia has not, in the reports we have seen, responded to the claim.

The attack came a day after Russian bombs hit an aid point in the Zaporizhzhia region, which we covered in our report on the Komyshuvakha strike. Zelensky said the rescue operation there was continuing and that the toll had risen to 29, with people still under the rubble. “There is a threat of Russian double-tap strikes, as they always so wickedly do,” he said.

“On the day of the US elections”

“It is very telling that all of this is happening on the day of the US congressional elections,” Zelensky said. “The Russians believe that America will not notice this signal from them. But such terror must be noticed and stopped. Ukraine must be helped to defend its skies.”

The message is aimed at Washington as much as at Berlin. Ukraine has said it would stop hitting Russian oil refineries, as President Donald Trump has demanded, if the US supplied Patriot interceptor missiles, as we reported in our story on the end of the Kherson truce. Kyiv argues that, without more air defence, its energy system will keep being hit as winter begins.

The Berlin visit

Zelensky said he was in Berlin “with the team” for meetings with the German Chancellor, the German President and the President of the Bundestag, and that he would take part in this year’s Berlin Security Conference. “The most important thing is our diplomatic coordination: important meetings ahead, strengthening air defence and support for our energy sector,” he said, adding that Ukraine was grateful to Germany for its willingness to support its defence.

Those “important meetings ahead” include the talks the US has called in Abu Dhabi on November 10 and 11 between Ukrainian and Russian delegations. European governments are also preparing for the day a ceasefire might come, with Britain and France to lead a multinational military rehearsal in Poland later this month, as we describe in our report on Exercise Koalicja.

What we know, and what we don’t

• Known: according to Zelensky, the overnight attack involved 289 drones and 76 missiles, with energy sites as the main target and outages continuing.
• Known: Zelensky says a hospital in Kharkiv was hit and 73 people were injured.
• Unknown: how many drones and missiles were shot down, and how long repairs will take, which Zelensky’s statement does not say.
• Unknown: Russia’s account of the targets, and whether the strike changes the plans for the Abu Dhabi talks.

Why it matters

Strikes on power stations and substations are meant to leave civilians without heat and light as the cold arrives. Ukraine needs air defence interceptors to protect them, and Zelensky’s choice of the day of the US vote, and of Berlin, to make the point shows where he thinks help must come from. Whether Germany and the US respond with more air defence will shape both the winter and the position Ukraine takes into the talks.

This article draws on statements by Ukraine’s President’s Office and reporting by BBC News and The Express Tribune.