Russian strikes damage Ukraine’s power grid ahead of winter

• Ukraine’s grid operator imposed emergency power restrictions in Kyiv and three other regions after the attacks.
• State-owned Centrenergo said generating equipment at the Trypilska thermal power plant in Kyiv Oblast was damaged.
• President Volodymyr Zelenskyy reported seven people killed and 24 wounded nationwide.
• Energy company DTEK said it restored electricity to about 8,000 customers.

Russia launched missiles and drones at energy infrastructure across Ukraine overnight into Wednesday, 30 September, and continued attacking Kyiv during the day. The barrage killed civilians, disrupted electricity and damaged generating equipment at the Trypilska thermal power plant, a major facility in the Kyiv region.¹²

Ukraine’s Prime Minister, Serhii Koretskyi, said 11 regions came under attack. He described the barrage as the first attack of this scale and combination against energy infrastructure since the end of the previous heating season.¹

The toll rose as reports came in. Kyiv police said three people had been killed and seven injured in the capital by mid-afternoon. Later, The Associated Press reported Zelenskyy’s nationwide count of seven civilians killed and 24 wounded. That included a boy killed in Vyshhorod, outside the capital.³⁴

Centrenergo confirmed that generating equipment at Trypilska had been damaged. The company said it needed to assess the equipment before starting repairs, and did not disclose the extent of the damage.²

The strikes also left the grid under strain. At 18:15 local time, emergency restrictions were in force in parts of Kyiv city and in Kyiv, Chernihiv and Zhytomyr regions. Ukraine’s grid operator, Ukrenergo, said equipment overload caused the restrictions; officials said they would be lifted once the grid stabilised. DTEK reported restoring electricity to about 8,000 customers, while repair crews continued working.⁵⁶

The reported disruptions were to electricity; reporting reviewed for this account did not establish that heating was cut. Nor did it give a total number of customers affected or say how long the emergency restrictions lasted.

Footnotes

1. Hromadske, “Russia resumes large-scale attacks on Ukraine's energy system, damages Trypilska power plant”. ↩ ↩²

2. The Kyiv Independent, “Russia pounds Kyiv's power grid in first mass assault since last fall”. ↩ ↩²

3. Kyiv police, statement on the 30 September attack. ↩

4. The Associated Press, “Russia's barrage in Ukraine kills 7 and targets power grid, Zelenskyy says”. ↩

5. Ukrainska Pravda, “Emergency power outages begin in parts of Ukraine”. ↩

6. The Kyiv Independent, reporting on DTEK and Ukrenergo updates. ↩