Russian Strikes Leave Around 1 Million Ukrainians Without Power In Freezing Temperatures

Russian strikes that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said have "no military rationale" have crippled electricity, heating, and water infrastructure in parts of Ukraine, leaving around 1 million people in the dark amid freezing temperatures.

Borys Filatov, mayor of the city of Dnipro, said on January 8 that the overnight strikes that hit his and other cities across the country have created "an emergency situation on a national scale."

Ukraine's Energy Ministry said in a statement that around 800,000 consumers in the Dnipropetrovsk region alone remain without power as temperatures are expected to drop to minus 11 degrees Celsius.

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Russia has repeatedly claimed it does not target civilian infrastructure despite mounting evidence to the contrary.

"There is absolutely no military rationale in such strikes on the energy sector and infrastructure that leave people without electricity and heating in wintertime," Zelenskyy said in a post on social media.

"This is Russia's war specifically against our people, against life in Ukraine -- an attempt to break Ukraine."

Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko warned that deteriorating weather conditions would further strain households in the affected regions.

"Ukraine's energy system is under daily attack from the enemy, and energy workers are operating under extremely challenging conditions to provide people with electricity and heat," she wrote on Telegram.

The head of the Zaporizhzhya region's military administration, Ivan Fedorov, said that late evening on January 7, the region completely lost power, adding it was the region's first full blackout in years.

Serhiy, the head of a hospital in Dnipro, told RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service that the facility was dealing with an influx of patients when the blackout hit.

"When the lights went off, we had to work with [energy generators]. We had just received 37 wounded soldiers," he said. "A very big number of the patients were delivered from elsewhere in the region, where medical aid was not possible to provide due to the blackout."

Dnipropetrovsk and Zaporizhzhya are densely populated industrial regions near the front lines, with parts of their territory under Russian occupation.

They have been repeatedly targeted by Russian attacks since the start of the full-scale invasion in February 2022.

Russian forces intensified strikes on Ukraine's energy and gas infrastructure at the beginning of autumn 2025, disrupting supplies during the heating season.

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The latest attacks come amid an intensification of talks for a peace proposal aimed at ending Europe's longest and deadliest conflict since World War II.

Zelenskyy said diplomatic moves to help end the war should not mean supplies of air defense systems and military equipment needed to mitigate such attack should stop flowing into the country.

"Diplomatic discussions cannot be a pretext for slowing down the supply of air defense systems and equipment that helps protect lives. We are working with our partners to ensure an adequate response," he said.

According to government data, Russia has carried out more than 4,500 attacks on Ukraine's energy infrastructure since February 2022, when Russia launched its full-scale invasion.

The United Nations has warned that with temperatures plunging below freezing and cities facing long, daily power cuts, Ukrainian civilians are again bracing for winter under fire.

"The people of Ukraine do not have the privilege of waiting for better conditions. They are enduring a fourth winter since the escalation of this war, under fire and in the dark," UN Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator Joyce Msuya said.