On Saturday, October 11, 2025, the city of Kyiv emerged from a harrowing 24 hours, as power was finally restored to more than 800,000 residents following one of the most severe Russian assaults on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure since the full-scale invasion began over three years ago. The restoration came after a relentless barrage of Russian drone and missile attacks on October 10 that left large swathes of Ukraine in darkness, injured dozens, and underscored the ongoing vulnerability of the country’s critical utilities as winter approaches.
Ukraine’s largest private energy company, DTEK, announced that “the main work to restore the power supply” in Kyiv had been completed, though some neighborhoods continued to grapple with localized outages. The company’s teams worked through the night and into the morning, racing to bring light and heat back to the capital’s residents as temperatures began their seasonal descent. According to DTEK’s statement on Telegram, “the main work to restore the power supply had been completed,” but they cautioned that “some localized outages remain.”
The attacks, which Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko described as “one of the largest concentrated strikes” against Ukraine’s energy grid, were felt across the country. In Kyiv alone, at least 20 people were wounded as Russian drones and Kinzhal hypersonic missiles targeted infrastructure and residential buildings. Emergency services rushed to extinguish fires and clear debris, while Kyiv officials confirmed that tram and trolleybus services had resumed by Saturday, a sign of the city’s resilience and determination to return to normalcy.
The Black Sea port city of Odesa was also hit hard in the latest wave of strikes. Overnight on October 11, Russian drones knocked out power to more than 240,000 households. DTEK reported that, as in Kyiv, utility workers managed to restore electricity by mid-morning, but not before at least one person was wounded in the attacks, according to Oleg Kiper, the head of Odesa’s regional military administration.
Elsewhere in Ukraine, the cost of the attacks was even higher. In the northern Chernihiv region, a second utility worker died after being struck in a so-called “double tap” drone strike—a tactic in which a second strike targets emergency or utility workers responding to an initial attack. Regional military administrator Vyacheslav Chaus reported that four more workers were wounded in Chernihiv, highlighting the peril faced by those on the front lines of Ukraine’s energy war. In the Donetsk region, Russian shelling killed at least two people and wounded five more in Kostiantynivka, according to police. The tragedy deepened when a two-year-old child, the son of a local priest, was found at the scene; his mother had died in a Russian strike just a week prior.
Russia’s Defense Ministry insisted that Friday’s strikes were aimed at “energy facilities supplying Ukraine’s military,” confirming the use of both hypersonic missiles and strike drones. While the ministry did not specify the exact targets, the widespread civilian impact was clear. The Ukrainian air force reported intercepting or jamming 54 of 78 Russian drones launched overnight, a testament to the country’s increasingly sophisticated air defenses. Meanwhile, Russia claimed to have shot down 42 Ukrainian drones over its own territory on the same night, illustrating the tit-for-tat escalation that has become a grim hallmark of the conflict.
With winter looming—historically the most brutal season for Ukraine’s energy infrastructure—officials are bracing for further attacks. Each year since the invasion began, Russia has intensified its campaign against the power grid as temperatures drop, apparently hoping to sap public morale and force political concessions. Winter in Ukraine stretches from late October through March, with January and February typically the coldest months, making a reliable power supply a matter of survival as much as comfort.
Against this backdrop, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has repeatedly pleaded with Western allies for more robust air defense systems. In a “very positive and productive” phone call with U.S. President Donald Trump on October 11, Zelenskyy discussed “opportunities to bolster our air defense, as well as concrete agreements that we are working on to ensure this. There are good options and solid ideas on how to truly strengthen us,” he said in a post to X. While the White House did not immediately comment on the call, Ukrainian officials have been clear that advanced systems like the U.S.-made Patriot are seen as vital to intercepting Russian missiles and protecting critical infrastructure.
Ukraine’s energy war is not fought in isolation. The latest round of attacks came just as leaders from Britain, France, and Germany announced a coordinated move to use the value of frozen Russian assets to support Ukraine’s armed forces. In a joint statement, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron, and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said they would act “in close cooperation with the United States” to “increase pressure” on Russian President Vladimir Putin and “bring Russia to the negotiation table.” The European Union has already provided 174 billion euros (about $202 billion) in support since the war began in February 2022, but Ukraine’s budget and military needs for 2026 and 2027 are estimated at a staggering 130 billion euros ($153 billion). The largest pool of ready funds is the approximately 194 billion euros ($225 billion) in frozen Russian assets held in Belgium, with additional billions in Japan, the U.S., U.K., and Canada.
President Zelenskyy, in his nightly address, urged that “Russian assets must be fully used to strengthen our defense and ensure recovery.” He also warned that Russia was exploiting the world’s focus on the Middle East to intensify its campaign in Ukraine, calling for tighter sanctions and renewed international attention.
As Kyiv’s lights flickered back on, the relief was palpable, but so too was the sense of foreboding. The restoration of power, though swift and impressive, is likely to be temporary if Russia continues its strategy of targeting Ukraine’s energy grid. For millions of Ukrainians, the coming winter will be a test not just of endurance, but of the country’s ability to defend its most basic lifelines against an adversary determined to keep them in the dark.