A wave of Russian missiles slammed into hydroelectric plants and other critical energy and water infrastructure across Ukraine on Monday, with explosions reported near the capital, Kyiv, and in at least 10 other regions.
Hydro plants, substations and heat generation facilities were all hit, Ukraine said, while the ministry of defence in Moscow said it had targeted “energy systems” in a devastating morning raid carried out using long-range cruise missiles.
Ukraine’s air command said it shot down 44 out of 50 enemy rockets, but power and water supplies were affected in an escalation of Moscow’s attacks on vital utilities as the winter looms. At least 13 people were injured, police said, and air raid sirens went off nationally.
Kyiv was also hit for the third Monday out of the last four, following months of relative calm. Video footage showed several missiles being intercepted soon after 8am local time. The governor of Kyiv, Oleksiy Kuleba, said “massive shelling in the region” had damaged electricity and energy infrastructure. He said residents should expect emergency power cuts. About 80% of houses in Kyiv were left without water, according to water supply company Kyivvodokanal.
Russian Tu-90 and T-60 strategic aircraft flying north of the Caspian Sea and the Rostov region fired the rockets, and Moscow state media showed video of a ship launching Kalibr missiles. They were targeted at Kyiv, Zaporizhzhia and Kharkiv oblasts, as well as in the areas of Mykolaiv, Lviv, Zhytomyr, Kirovohrad and Chernivtsi.
In a statement on Facebook, Herman Halushchenko, Ukraine’s energy minister, described Monday morning’s attacks as “barbaric” and said: “Electric substations, hydropower and heat generation facilities were hit by rockets.
“I ask all Ukrainians in [areas] that were not affected by shelling to reduce their electricity consumption as much as possible. Reducing the load on the power grid will help our energy companies to quickly restore the power supply in those regions that are temporarily blacked-out.”
Late on Monday Vladimir Putin claimed the strikes were in part a response to a drone attacks on the Black Sea fleet over the weekend and hinted that more action could follow. “That’s not all we could have done,” he told a televised news conference.
The targeting of substations and hydro plants marks an escalation by Russia in the conflict. Putin’s calculation is that a weary civilian population will grow fed up of living in cold and miserable conditions, and will press Ukraine’s government to make concessions. Zelenskiy has ruled this out, saying he would rather live “without you” – meaning Russia – than with light and water.
The electricity trade media publication Elektrovesti reported that three major hydroelectric power stations were hit. They included the Dnprovskyi facility in Zaprorizhzhia city and the plant at Kremenchuk, both on the Dnieper River. Video showed black smoke rising from or near a substation in Kremenchuk in the Poltava region of central Ukraine.
A third strike damaged the Dniester dam and plant in the west of the country, 10 km from the border with Moldova. Debris from a Russian rocket landed inside the Moldovan town of Naslavcea after Ukrainian air defences shot it down. The windows of four houses were damaged. Moldova’s government said its airspace was not violated.
Andriy Yermak, chief of staff to Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said Ukraine still urgently needed better and more “modern” air defences, to secure its civilian infrastructure from Kremlin aggression. Kyiv recently took delivery from Germany of an Iris-T air defence system. The US has promised to send eight advanced surface-to-air missile complexes, known as Nasams.
Presidential aide Mykhailo Podolyak said Moscow had conducted “another massive cascade missile attack” on Ukraine’s critical power centres. He sarcastically suggested that the world was watching the “entire country” freeze, rather than providing air defences so that rockets could be shot down.
In recent weeks Russia has stepped up its attacks on fossil fuel power stations and the substations that connect Ukraine’s energy grid together. Some Ukrainian officials had hoped that the country’s hydro plants might be spared because of the wider consequences.
The damage might have been significantly worse. Missiles were successfully shot down over the Vinnytsia and Khmelnytsky regions, according to local officials. Footage posted by Euromaidan Press shows a cruise missile being intercepted close to Kyiv and exploding in midair.
Footage of shooting down one of the missiles in the skies of Kyiv Oblast.
— Euromaidan Press (@EuromaidanPress) October 31, 2022
📹https://t.co/XiPxGGhH8u pic.twitter.com/0vI1gLdrlT
In Kyiv, the mayor, Vitali Klitschko, said critical infrastructure was struck. About 350,000 people were left without power, he said. “As a result of strikes on critical infrastructure facilities, part of the capital was cut off. There is no water supply in some areas. All services are working,” he stressed.
Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, said Russia was “fighting civilians” because it was incapable of winning on the battlefield. He said it was wrong to describe the Kremlin’s latest strikes as a “response”, adding: “Russia does this because it still has the missiles and the will to kill Ukrainians.”
Another batch of Russian missiles hits Ukraine’s critical infrastructure. Instead of fighting on the battlefield, Russia fights civilians. Don’t justify these attacks by calling them a ‘response’. Russia does this because it still has the missiles and the will to kill Ukrainians.
— Dmytro Kuleba (@DmytroKuleba) October 31, 2022
By Monday afternoon life in Kyiv had mostly returned to normal, despite warnings from officials that more strikes could come. The capital’s streets and underground were busy, with people queueing for coffee. Children played in Shevchenko park, which was hit three weeks ago by a cruise missile. Only a few people were queueing for water at the park’s Tsarist-era water pumps.
Eugene Kukshtel, a 51-year-old manager, said Ukrainians understood the situation and the need to economise electricity and be patient. He said the authorities responded quickly. “It’s a question of using your head. Everyone has been shopping and prepared themselves. I bought a power bank and a torch,” he explained. He added: “It’s not the most important thing at the moment. The main thing is victory.”
The strikes appear to be the latest attempt by Russia to destroy key infrastructure and morale ahead of the cold season. A rocket attack on 10 October caused extensive damage in the centre of Kyiv and killed at least 19 people, and was followed by a week later by a ”kamikaze” drone attack.
On Saturday, Russia’s Black Sea flagship vessel, the Admiral Makarov, was damaged and possibly disabled during a Ukrainian air and sea drone raid on the Crimean port of Sevastopol. At least three Russian vessels were hit. The Kremlin blamed the British Royal Navy for coordinating the operation, a claim the UK government denies.
The Ukrainian foreign ministry spokesperson Oleg Nikolenko tweeted: “Morning starts with air defence sirens all across Ukraine. Russian missiles hit energy infrastructure in Kyiv and other cities, causing electricity and water outages. Russia is not interested in peace talks, nor in global food security. Putin’s only goal is death and destruction.”
Lesia Vasylenko, a Ukrainian MP, posted: “Kyiv has been under fire for the last hour. Blackouts again. And no water in parts of the city. Putin’s crimes against civilians continue.”
• This article was amended on 1 November 2022 to correct a misspelling of Eugene Kukshtel’s name.
