Russia pounds Ukraine’s power grid on US Election Day

Russia launched one of its largest combined air attacks of the year on Ukraine overnight into Tuesday, Nov. 3, firing 289 attack drones, 17 ballistic missiles and 59 cruise missiles. The strikes hit power plants and substations across nine regions and caused emergency blackouts, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a post reported by NPR. Zelenskyy tied the barrage directly to the US midterm elections being held the same day. The Kyiv Independent reported that it was Russia's biggest mass attack on Ukraine's energy facilities this year.npr.org+1

Energy Grid Takes the Brunt

Zelenskyy said the main targets were generation sites and substations in the Odesa, Cherkasy, Zhytomyr, Vinnytsia, Kharkiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Chernivtsi, Chernihiv and Rivne regions. DTEK, Ukraine's largest private energy company, said three of its thermal plants were badly damaged and stopped operating. More than 180,000 people in Zhytomyr region lost power, and Odesa moved to scheduled outages. Ukrenergo also ordered emergency cuts in Kyiv, Kyiv region and Dnipropetrovsk region.aljazeera.com+2

Ukraine's Air Force said its defenses shot down or neutralized 309 targets: three ballistic missiles, 49 cruise missiles and 257 drones. It recorded hits at 23 locations. A strike on a hospital in Kharkiv injured 73 people and damaged its cardiology department. Separately, the death toll from a Nov. 2 Russian strike on a humanitarian aid site in Komyshuvakha, Zaporizhzhia region, rose to 29, with 48 people still missing. Russia's Defense Ministry said it had targeted power facilities that supply the Ukrainian army and military factories.english.nv.ua+3

A Warning, Then a Strike

On Monday, Nov. 2, Zelenskyy said in his evening address that Ukrainian intelligence showed Russia was "preparing a new massive strike," mainly on energy and logistics. He said Moscow was counting on the world's attention being on the US vote.news.liga.net

After the attack, he wrote: "It is very telling that all this is happening on the day of the U.S. congressional elections. The Russians believe America will not notice this signal." He added that "Ukraine must be helped to defend its skies, otherwise Russia will never stop its missile strikes".english.nv.ua

The strikes come as diplomacy picks up again. US special envoy Steve Witkoff said Washington-led talks between Russia and Ukraine were set to resume next week. Attacks are also running in both directions. Ukraine resumed strikes on Russia's oil sector on Oct. 30. On Tuesday, a Ukrainian drone attack injured two workers at a refinery in Yaroslavl, and Russia said it had shot down 856 Ukrainian drones overnight.euronews.com+2