Many MindedOvernight barrage hits Ukrainian substations as winter sets in
Overnight on 7 November 2026, Russia launched more than 30 ballistic missiles and over 170 drones at Ukraine. President Zelensky said 12 regions were hit, Kyiv worst of all. Nine people were reported injured nationwide, one of them a child. Damage included residential buildings, the North Bridge and a kindergarten.
The energy damage was concentrated in substations. In the Kyiv region, those linking the Rivne and Khmelnytsky nuclear power plants to Kyiv and central Ukraine were struck. Zelensky said substations in Vinnytsia, Zhytomyr, Rivne, Kharkiv and Dnipro regions were also damaged. Energy minister Denys Shmyhal said five regions had power cuts but gave no count of affected homes. In Kyiv, electricity, water and heating were disrupted. Mayor Vitali Klitschko said water was running normally again and about 60% of apartment buildings had heating connected.
Why it matters: generating capacity is only useful if it can be delivered. Hitting the substations that carry nuclear output to the capital cuts off power that exists but can't reach homes, and the equipment is costly and slow to replace. Heat and water depend on the same grid, so one strike degrades several basic needs at once. It lands as temperatures fall and first snow arrives in parts of the country.
Watch the trilateral talks in Abu Dhabi next week, and whether the recent Kherson-region truce, which let hundreds of residents leave occupied Oleshky, grows into anything on infrastructure. Caveat: casualty and damage figures come mostly from Zelensky and Ukrainian officials and aren't independently verified. His view that Moscow is preparing for talks through strikes is his own characterization.
Source: BBC World