Two major Russian cities, Voronezh and Belgorod, plunged into darkness this weekend after a series of Ukrainian drone and missile strikes targeted critical energy infrastructure near the border, escalating a months-long campaign of cross-border attacks that have left both sides scrambling to keep the lights on as winter looms.
According to The Moscow Times and other local officials, the strikes late Saturday and early Sunday knocked out power and heating for more than 20,000 people in Belgorod, a regional capital just 40 kilometers from Ukraine. Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov confirmed on Telegram, "The electricity and heating supply network has suffered severe damage. Several streets are affected by power issues... More than 20,000 residents are without electricity." He added that repair crews were working around the clock, but the scale of the damage meant thousands faced a cold, uncertain night.
In Voronezh—a city of over one million—Governor Alexander Gusev reported a Ukrainian drone attack sparked a fire at a local utility plant, temporarily cutting electricity and heating to large swathes of the city. "A fire also broke out at a heating facility in southern Voronezh region," Gusev stated, emphasizing that the blaze was swiftly extinguished and that gradual restoration of power was underway. Still, the disruption underscored the growing vulnerability of Russian cities once considered far from the frontlines.
The fallout wasn’t limited to those two cities. In the neighboring Kursk region, Governor Alexander Khinshtein said, "A fire broke out at one of the power plants in the village of Korenevo," which cut power to 10 municipalities. Meanwhile, in the Rostov region, local authorities reported hours-long outages in the city of Taganrog, where a transformer substation reportedly caught fire. The exact cause there remains unconfirmed, but the timing suggests a possible link to the wave of Ukrainian attacks.
Russia’s Defense Ministry, for its part, claimed its air defenses intercepted 44 Ukrainian drones overnight across the Bryansk and Rostov regions, though it made no mention of the incidents in Voronezh or Belgorod. Local and regional media, however, reported that the attacks appeared aimed squarely at thermal power plants and substations supplying electricity and heat to the two cities—a tactic Ukraine has increasingly employed in its effort to disrupt Russian logistics and energy revenues. According to The Moscow Times, the strikes on Sunday left more than 20,000 people in the border regions without power.
Ukraine has openly acknowledged its campaign of long-range drone and missile strikes on Russian oil refineries, power plants, and logistics hubs. The stated goal: to deprive Russia of vital oil revenues used to finance its war effort. In response, Russian forces have dramatically intensified their own bombardment of Ukrainian energy facilities, with devastating consequences as the bitter cold season approaches.
On Saturday, November 8, Russian attacks on Ukrainian energy infrastructure left the country’s grid in crisis. Ukraine’s state power provider said its generating capacity was reduced to "zero" on Sunday, and at least four people were killed in the wave of strikes. According to the Ukrainian air force, Russia launched 69 drones at energy facilities overnight into Sunday, of which 34 were shot down. The relentless assault has forced Ukraine to scramble to restore power and heating for millions of civilians—a grim echo of last winter’s blackouts.
The tit-for-tat strikes have also raised the stakes around nuclear safety. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha accused Russia of deliberate "nuclear blackmail" after Russian missile strikes on Friday, November 7, hit substations powering the Khmelnytskyi and Rivne nuclear power plants. "These were not accidental but well-planned strikes," Sybiha said on X (formerly Twitter), calling for an emergency meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) board to address what he described as a "deliberate" threat to nuclear safety. The incident has heightened international fears of a potential nuclear disaster should the war spill further into critical infrastructure zones.
The diplomatic front remains as fraught as ever. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov revealed that preparations had begun, on President Vladimir Putin’s order, to study the possibility of resuming nuclear weapons testing—a move that would mark a dramatic departure from decades of international arms control. However, the Kremlin was quick to clarify its position. "President Putin has repeatedly said Russia intends to honor its obligations and has no plans to conduct nuclear tests," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov stated, responding to recent remarks by U.S. President Donald Trump, who hinted that America might review its own nuclear testing policy for the first time in more than three decades.
Despite the rising tensions, Lavrov signaled a potential opening for dialogue, expressing readiness to meet with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio to discuss the war and bilateral relations. Yet, he was adamant that peace "cannot be achieved without taking Russian interests into account," underlining the deep chasm that still divides the two sides.
Meanwhile, Russia’s Defense Ministry maintains that it is successfully intercepting the majority of Ukrainian drones, but the scale and persistence of the attacks have exposed vulnerabilities in Russia’s energy grid and air defenses. In Bryansk, for example, the reported destruction of 44 Ukrainian drones overnight suggests a dramatic escalation in the intensity and frequency of cross-border strikes.
Back in Ukraine, the battered energy sector is bracing for a long, harsh winter. The loss of generating capacity and the destruction of infrastructure have left millions at risk of prolonged outages. The government, alongside international partners, is racing to repair damage and bolster defenses against further strikes. For ordinary Ukrainians, the threat of another winter without reliable electricity or heat is all too real.
The humanitarian cost on both sides is mounting. In Belgorod and Voronezh, families huddled in dark, unheated apartments as emergency crews worked through the night. In Ukraine, the search for survivors and the rush to restore basic services have become a grim routine. The cycle of strike and retaliation shows no sign of abating, with each side blaming the other for escalating the conflict and targeting civilian infrastructure.
As the war grinds into its fourth year, the prospect of a negotiated settlement appears as distant as ever. Both Moscow and Kyiv insist that the other must make the first move, while civilians on both sides bear the brunt of the ongoing hostilities. The latest attacks on energy infrastructure have driven home a stark reality: in this war, the battle for power—literal and figurative—remains far from over.
