Russia hits Ukraine energy sites, Vinnytsia loses power
According to Zelensky, more than 320 drones and missiles were used between 7 pm and 7 am. Lutsk, Rivne, Zhytomyr and Vinnytsia are worst hit, and Ukrenergo has ordered emergency outages.
Overnight between October 16 and 17, Russia struck more than 15 power generation and transmission facilities in Ukraine. The heaviest damage was recorded in cities in the west and center of the country: Lutsk, Rivne, Zhytomyr and Vinnytsia. Vinnytsia Mayor Serhiy Morhunov said the city had lost power and that critical infrastructure had switched to backup supply. Two people were killed in the attack, one in Kherson and one in Sloviansk.
The strike comes three days after the ballistic missile attack of October 13 to 14, when, according to the Ukrainian prime minister, all three of Kyiv’s heating plants were hit. This time the focus shifted from the capital to the western regions.
What was hit, and how many weapons were used?
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called the attack, on social media, one of the largest on Ukraine’s energy sector. By his account, the situation is most critical in Lutsk, Rivne, Zhytomyr, Vinnytsia, Shepetivka, Slavuta and Netishyn, and energy facilities were also hit in the Kharkiv, Kyiv and Dnipropetrovsk regions. Ukrinform reports that energy sites in ten regions were targeted during the night: Vinnytsia, Volyn, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, Zhytomyr, Odesa, Rivne, Ternopil, Khmelnytskyi and Kharkiv. Attacks on energy infrastructure also continued throughout October 16, in Kyiv and in the Kyiv, Kharkiv, Rivne, Volyn and Odesa regions.
Zelensky described the scale of the attack:
Between 7 pm yesterday and 7 am today, more than 320 jet-powered and gasoline-powered Shahed drones were used, together with loitering munitions, cruise missiles and ballistic missiles, against our energy sector, our cities and our communities.
The Ukrainian Air Force gives a separate count, without a stated time frame:
- 4 Kalibr cruise missiles
- 332 strike drones, 31 of them jet-powered
- Iskander-M/KN-23 ballistic missiles and Kh-22/32 cruise missiles (number not given)
A total of 293 targets were shot down or jammed, including all four Kalibr missiles and 289 drones. Hits were recorded at 22 locations, and debris from downed targets fell on three more.
Zelensky said the Russians had stepped up their operation against energy infrastructure and want to drain Ukraine’s stocks and its capacity to repair. In his own words:
The Russians have stepped up their operation against the energy sector and are trying to scatter our reserves.
Kyiv Post carries another of his statements: “Russia is trying to cause a complete blackout in Ukraine just ahead of winter.”
What is the power situation, and who was killed?
Ukrenergo, the transmission grid operator, introduced emergency outages in several regions and said that previously published schedules do not apply there. Zelensky said recovery and repairs are under way:
Recovery work is under way, all necessary services are involved and all available resources are being used.
Authorities urged consumers who still have electricity to use it sparingly.
In Kherson, a Russian air strike on the Korabelnyi district killed a 64-year-old ambulance driver, regional head Yaroslav Shanko said. In Sloviansk in the Donetsk region, FAB-250 aerial bombs hit two residential buildings early in the morning. One person was killed and ten were injured, four of them in hospital, while rescuers searched for people who may have been trapped under the rubble. Eight buildings were damaged and two were partly destroyed. In total, 16 people were wounded in the city over 24 hours, including a 17-year-old girl.
How did Zelensky link the strike to Washington’s decision?
In the same address, Zelensky mentioned the US decision on the law named after Senator Lindsey Graham. Kyiv Post reports that President Donald Trump signed the law on September 18, then suspended it by executive order on October 16, 48 hours before 500 percent tariffs on Russian goods and 100 percent duties on third parties buying Russian oil were due to take effect. RFE/RL writes that Trump backed away from nearly all the substantive sanctions, tariffs and restrictions in the bipartisan law, and that supporters of Ukraine and lawmakers from both parties sharply criticized him for it.
Zelensky places the two events side by side but does not claim the attack was a consequence of the decision in Washington. He warns that easing pressure emboldens Putin:
At the very moment the Russians carried out such a massive strike on our energy, a decision was unfortunately made in America to completely ignore the Lindsey Graham law, which was supposed to create truly effective pressure on Russia to end this war. That law could help a great deal, and still can. But for it to really work, every vote for it matters.
Kyiv Post also carries his words that pressure is necessary:
Pressure is needed to stop this. The American sanctions darkness, the easing of pressure on the aggressor, the cash rewards for Putin, all of it only encourages him to keep striking. We must not surrender positions, we must try to end the war. To end it, not to give Putin every reason to prolong it indefinitely.
Zelensky added that European partners have prepared new aid packages for Ukraine and thanked them.
What is happening at the front meanwhile?
Ukraine’s General Staff said on October 17 that Ukrainian forces still hold Dobropillia in the Donetsk region, rejecting the claim by Russian President Vladimir Putin the previous day that Russia had taken the town. Kyiv also disputes Moscow’s claim, relayed by Reuters, that since September 1 Russian forces have seized more than 1,800 square kilometers of Ukrainian territory and 92 settlements.
In its demands for ending the war, Russia repeatedly insists that Ukraine must hand over the part of the Donetsk region its forces have not managed to capture. Kyiv considers this unacceptable and hints that it could agree to a ceasefire with the front line left where it is while negotiations begin.
