Russia launches ‘massive’ attack on Ukraine energy, killing at least 10

Russia launched one of the largest missile attacks since the start of the war targeting Ukraine’s energy infrastructure overnight. At least 10 people were killed.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky described the air raids as a “massive combined strike on all regions” aimed at damaging the country’s energy infrastructure.

Russia said it targeted “essential energy infrastructure supporting the Ukrainian military-industrial complex”.

Neighbouring nations Romania and Moldova accused Russia of deliberately trying to impose freezing conditions on Ukraine over the winter, with a Ukrainian MP telling the BBC that Russia carried out similar attacks in the run-up to winter last year.

Ukraine’s largest private energy company said the strikes caused “significant damage” to its thermal energy plants and some areas were cut off from the electricity grid as a consequence.

Odesa region Governor Oleh Kiper said there had also been disruptions to heat and water supplies, although the latter was gradually being restored

We’ll be pausing our live coverage shortly but you can read more on how the events unravelled in our colleague Tom McArthur’s story.

Nick Thorpe
Central Europe Correspondent

Russian drone attacks on Ukraine struck the westernmost Subcarpathian region early on Sunday morning, for the first time since 2022, with impacts recorded within 20 km of the Hungarian border.

“The events of this morning,” wrote Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto in a Facebook post. “Point to the need to further intensify peace efforts, because every day brings more and more destruction, and every day brings the risk of escalating war.”

Defence Minister Kristóf Szalay-Bobrovniczky added: “The situation is being monitored continuously, radar surveillance has been raised to a higher level, Nato and the national air defence service are on standby.”

Parts of drones, or of Ukrainian missiles fired to bring them down, landed in woodland southwest of the city of Mukhachevo early on Sunday morning. There were no casualties.

The Hungarian government has maintained strong economic and diplomatic ties with Russia, almost alone among EU and NATO countries to do so.

At the recent summit of the European Political Community in Budapest, Prime Minister Viktor Orban repeated his call for an immediate ceasefire, and expressed the hope that the return of Donald Trump to the White House would speed up the end of the war.

Sarah Rainsford
BBC Eastern Europe Correspondent

The crowd has grown – it’s now several thousand strong with people carrying the blue and white Russian opposition flag as well as Ukrainian flags – and chanting “no to war” and “Putin is a killer” in Russian as they pass through central Berlin.

The route to the Russian embassy passes Checkpoint Charlie and a long stretch of the ruins of the Berlin Wall.

At that point the crowd stopped – and chanted – freedom to Russia and victory to Ukraine.

The Russian opposition has often been accused of failing to appreciate Ukrainians suffering – and failing to do enough to stop the war being waged by their country.

Today, people on the march say they came from all over Europe where they had moved after the start of the full scale invasion.

One young IT worker, Anastasia – originally from Kazan in Russia – says she left in March 2022 because she couldn’t stay in a country waging a war that she opposed.

She tells the BBC it was “impossible to protest in an authoritarian state” which is why today’s rally is so crucial.

This kind of gathering of course would be impossible inside Russia itself where it is illegal even to call the full-scale invasion a war.

Laura Kuenssberg’s been talking to a source within the security and foreign policy world, who told her that it’s possible US President Joe Biden could make diplomatic progress in Ukraine before Donald Trump replaces him in January.

And Paddy O’Connell has been speaking to Ukrainian MP Oleksiy Goncharenko who questioned whether victory meant the same thing for both Trump and Ukraine.

Henry Zeffman joins them for a conversation in which they also look at the UK’s position on the war.

You can listen to the latest episode of Newscast on BBC Sounds.

Paul Adams
BBC World Affairs

President Zelensky said the country’s energy infrastructure was the primary target of Russia’s latest attack.

Once again, he said, Russia wants to scare us with cold and a lack of light.

He praised those, including fighter pilots, responsible for shooting down 140 of the estimated 210 missiles and drones.

Russia said it used high precision, long range weapons to attack infrastructure facilities involved in powering Ukraine’s military industry.

But, as always, civilians were killed in their homes. Cities in the south were the worst hit, with two people killed in Odesa, Mykolaiv and Nikopol.

Telephone diplomacy cannot replace “real support” for Ukraine, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk says.

Posting on social media, he says: “No-one will stop Putin with phone calls. The attack last night, one of the biggest in this war, has proved that telephone diplomacy cannot replace real support from the whole West for Ukraine.

“The next weeks will be decisive, not only for the war itself, but also for our future.”

The leaders of other countries in the region have also reacted to the attack, with Romanian Foreign Minister Luminita Odobescu says: “This is a cynical and despicable attempt to throw Ukraine into cold and darkness at the outset of winter.”

The President of Moldova, Maia Sandu, also condemned the Russian strikes, saying: “Weaponising winter to freeze a nation into submission is cruel and unacceptable. Moldova stands with Ukraine.”

German chancellor Olaf Scholz says Ukraine “can count on us” and any negotiation talks with Russia would need Ukraine’s consent.

Scholz, speaking at Berlin airport before heading to the G20 summit in Brazil, says “no decision will be taken behind Ukraine’s back”.

The German leader came under fire earlier this week after he called Russian leader Vladimir Putin, urging him to “end the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine and to withdraw his troops”.

The move drew criticism from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky who said the call was a “Pandora’s box” and argued it weakened Putin’s isolation.

Oleh Chernysh
BBC News Ukrainian

In the early morning hours of 17 November, Russia launched one of the largest missile attacks on Ukraine since the beginning of the war.

According to the Ukrainian authorities, the Russian army launched 120 missiles and 90 drones. Authorities say that seven civilians were killed in the Russian attack in the Dnipropetrovsk, Lviv, Odesa and Mykolaiv regions. Dozens more were injured.

Such a massive launch was last seen almost three months ago – on 26 August, right after Ukraine’s Independence Day. Back then, Russia launched 127 missiles and 109 drones.

The targets of this attack were apparently Ukraine’s largest thermal power plants and transformer substations in the west and centre of the country, as well as railway.

For the first time in a long time, Russian missiles reached the westernmost region of Zakarpattya and landed near the popular ski resort of Bukovel.

Local authorities said that the energy infrastructure was partially damaged by the debris. For some time, power supply was cut off in many regions.

However, after a couple of hours, electricity supply was restored in most areas. But in cities like Odesa and Kryvyi Rih, the situation is still difficult.

Ukrainian authorities warn that the Kremlin still has a stockpile of missiles and that similar attacks could be repeated later in the winter.

We can now bring you more images from Odesa, which officials say was hit by Russian strikes overnight.

As we’ve been reporting, the area’s regional head, Oleh Kiper, said earlier in the morning that the water and energy supply was interrupted as a result of damage caused.

The water supply is being gradually restored, he said. The images below show people queuing up for water in the region.

If you’re only just joining our coverage, welcome. Let’s catch you up with what’s happened so far – in less than 150 words:

• Russia launched a major missile and drone attack on Ukraine, hitting the capital Kyiv as well as multiple targets in the Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk, Lviv and Odesa regions
• At least seven people have been killed and many were injured – including children

• Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky says the attacks were a “massive combined strike on all regions of Ukraine” that targeted power supplies, with 120 missiles and 90 drones launched by Russia
• Ukraine’s largest private energy company says the attacks caused “significant damage” to thermal energy plants, with emergency blackouts in three regions
• Ukraine’s opposition party leader Kira Rudik tells the BBC last night’s attacks were “terrifying”, saying people “spend most nights in the bomb shelter when air raid sirens are on”
• Poland scrambled fighter jets as missiles headed for western Ukraine
• One person was killed in a Ukrainian drone attack in the Russian border region of Belgorod

Ukrainian MP Maria Mezentseva says Russia’s latest attack on energy infrastructure is a known strategy used by Russia ahead of the winter season.

“We know these tactics,” says Mezentseva, who is also head of Ukraine’s delegation to the Council of Europe’s Parliamentary Assembly.

Key infrastructure facilities were targeted “on purpose”, she tells the BBC, adding Russia carried out similar attacks in the lead-up to winter last year.

“We view it as yet another mass war crime attack with genocidal nature,” she says, adding when civilians hear a ballistic missile approaching, they may have just “40 seconds to hide”.

“We need more air defence systems,” Mezentseva says, adding that she hopes Ukraine’s partners – including the UK, the US and EU allies – understand that Ukraine is a “shield” for the rest of the continent.

Ukraine’s State Emergency Service has released images of what it says shows part of a missile inside a residential building damaged in Kyiv by a Russian strike.

It says one person was injured in the building, which was evacuated after the strike.

Russia has consistently denied that it deliberately targets civilians. Since the start of the invasion in 2022, 11,973 civilians, including 622 children, have been killed, according to the UN’s Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Ukrainian officials say at least nine people were killed and others injured by Russian strikes overnight, which they say targeted energy infrastructure.

Two people have died and a 17-year-old boy has been injured in the Odesa Oblast, the head of the region has said.

Oleh Kiper also says work is ongoing to restore power and water to the area in southern Ukraine.

And in the Dnipropetrovsk region, regional military administration chief Serhiy Lysak confirms earlier reports of two people killed and five injured in the Nikopol district.

Russia’s drone and missile attacks on Ukraine overnight targeted several regions across the country.

In Kyiv, residents sought refuge in the city’s underground train stations as air strikes hit the Ukrainian capital and caused power outages.

Blackouts were also reported in the central region of Dnipropetrovsk, where two rail workers were killed and three injured after attacks on railways and rail depots.

Russian air strikes also caused power cuts in the eastern region of Donetsk and in the western region of Lviv, a woman was killed by rocket fragments.

In southern Ukraine in the city of Mykolaiv, two women were killed by drone strikes, with six injured including two children. The port city of Odesa was also targeted and power cuts were imposed in the wider region.

Critical infrastructure was hit in the Vinnytsia and Volyn regions and explosions were also heard in the cities of Kropyvnytskyi, Rivne, Ivano-Frankivsk, Cherkasy, Kryvyi Rih and Zaporizhzhia, according to local media,

Fresh images from Kyiv show local authorities cleaning up the debris after Russian air strikes struck the Ukrainian capital.

Early this morning, workers used heavy machinery to remove parts of Russian missiles from an apartment block.

A 66-year-old woman died in the Lviv region in western Ukraine, the area’s regional head says.

The woman was in her car at the time of the attack and was killed by falling fragments of an enemy rocket, Maksym Kozytskyi says in a post on Telegram, adding two men have also been injured.

“Critical infrastructure” has also been damaged and 6,000 have been temporarily left without heating, he notes.

As we reported earlier, authorities have also said two people were killed in the Dnipropetrovsk region and two others in Mykolaiv.

Ukrainian MP and leader of opposition party Golos, Kira Rudik, has been speaking to BBC 5 Live Breakfast.

She describes last night’s attack as “dreadful” and “terrifying”, saying there is currently no electricity where she is and does not know when it will be restored.

“Russia’s attacks continue over and over and we spend most nights in the bomb shelter when air raid sirens are on.

“Every night we come out of our homes and what we witness is another home was hit, another hospital was hit, another energy infrastructure system was hit,” she says.

Rudik also suggests Ukraine needs more support, saying: “You cannot win the war getting 10% of the military support you were promised.”

Poland says it scrambled its air force due to the “massive” Russia attack on Ukraine.

Posting on social media, the operational command of Poland’s armed forces says Polish and allied aircraft began operating in Polish airspace.

Poland “activated all available forces and resources” and “on-duty fighter pairs were scrambled” with ground-based air defences and radar reconnaissance systems reaching the “highest state of readiness”, it says.

The Russian attack on Ukraine involved cruise and ballistic missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles, with areas in western Ukraine among those targeted, it says.

We’ve now getting pictures of residents in Kyiv seeking shelter in the capital’s underground train stations as Russia’s air strikes on Ukraine unfolded.

Platforms, stairs and waiting areas are filled with people wrapped up in blankets, winter jackets and beanies, with many bringing their pet dogs and cats.

Kyiv is among three regions suffering power outages, according to Ukraine’s largest energy provider.

DTEK posted on its Telegram channel this morning to say “emergency power outages” are affecting Kyiv as well as the Donetsk and Dnipropetrovsk regions.

It follows reports that Russian strikes have targeted parts of Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.

Ukraine’s Energy Minister German Galushchenko earlier called the strike “another a massive attack on our energy system”.

He said Russia was attacking electricity generation and transmission facilities throughout Ukraine.