New power outages in six regions after overnight attack: what we know

The overnight attack

Overnight on 26 October, starting at 18:00 on 25 October, Russia attacked Ukraine with one Kh-31P missile, three Kh-59/69 guided air-launched missiles fired from occupied parts of the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions, and 140 Shahed-type attack drones (70 of them jet-powered), plus Gerbera drones and Parodiya decoys, Ukraine’s Air Force said, as reported by Ukrinform.

As of 08:00, air defence had shot down or suppressed three Kh-59/69 missiles and 112 drones, including 56 jet-powered Shaheds. Hits were recorded at 15 locations and debris fell at four more. The attack was still ongoing in the morning, with several Russian drones in Ukrainian airspace.

Energy was among the targets. In the Kamianets-Podilskyi district of the Khmelnytskyi region, Russian forces attacked an energy facility, causing emergency outages.

Power supply

Ukrenergo said that, because of strikes on civilian energy infrastructure, as of Monday morning there were new outages in the Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, Chernihiv, Kharkiv and Sumy regions. Repair crews started restoration wherever the security situation allowed.

Because of the consequences of the attacks, some regions have power restriction schedules for industry and hourly outage schedules of up to two rounds until the end of the day. At 09:30 consumption was 5.8% lower than on the previous working day, Friday 23 October.

Advice from the grid operator

Ukrenergo asks people to limit use of high-power appliances from 16:00 to 22:00, when the grid is most loaded. Andrii Herus, head of the Rada’s energy committee, previously said that the switch to winter time no longer has a significant effect on the grid or consumption.

The scale of the week

According to Ukrinform, over the past week alone Russia launched about 1,600 guided aerial bombs, 48 missiles and nearly 2,300 attack drones at Ukraine. The same day President Zelensky thanked repair crews who work virtually nonstop using accumulated equipment reserves.

What to do now

Check your regional distributor’s current schedules, charge power banks and power stations when electricity is on, and avoid running several high-power appliances at the same time in the evening. Every kilowatt-hour saved at peak reduces the risk of extra outages.

Why it matters

Systematic strikes on energy before winter are designed to exhaust the grid. Whether outages can be kept to one or two rounds depends on how quickly crews restore facilities and how sparingly electricity is used at peak times.