Russia hits several key Ukraine energy facilities, kills three people

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Apartment buildings in Dnipro, Ukraine, hit during a Russian drone strike on Nov 8.

Apartment buildings in Dnipro, Ukraine, hit during a Russian drone strike on Nov 8.

PHOTO: REUTERS

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KYIV – Russia launched a barrage of drones and missiles in overnight attacks on Ukraine on Nov 8, killing at least three people and damaging large energy infrastructure facilities in three regions, Ukrainian officials said.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia had launched more than 450 drones and 45 missiles.

Two people were killed and 12 others wounded in the city of Dnipro when a drone hit an apartment building. One person was killed in the Kharkiv region, regional officials said.

Energy facilities in the Kyiv, Poltava and Kharkiv regions were damaged, Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko said.

Mr Zelensky said the strikes showed that sanctions pressure should be intensified.

“For every Moscow strike on energy infrastructure – aimed at harming ordinary people before winter – there must be a sanctions response targeting all Russian energy, with no exceptions,” he said on the Telegram app.

Since the start of its

full-scale assault on Ukraine

almost four years ago, Russia has made a point of attacking the power sector as the need for heating grows.

In autumn 2025, it has attacked gas facilities nine times in the space of two months, according to state energy firm Naftogaz.

Moscow’s Defence Ministry said it had launched “a massive strike with high-precision long-range air-, ground- and sea-based weapons” on weapon production and energy facilities in response to Kyiv’s strikes on Russia.

Russia also said its forces continued to advance in grinding battles around the key towns of Pokrovsk and Kupiansk, and had captured a tiny village in eastern Ukraine.

Ukraine regularly sends its drones to strike oil facilities inside Russia.

As diplomatic efforts to stop the war have faltered, Kyiv is trying to reduce Moscow’s ability to finance its war.

The Ukrainian air force said 406 Russian drones and nine missiles had been shot down, and that 26 Russian missiles and 52 drones had hit 25 sites.

Ms Svyrydenko said the government and energy companies were working to restore damaged electricity, water and heating services.

In the central Poltava region, two cities – Kremenchuk, with a population of about 200,000 people, and Horishni Plavni, with some 50,000 residents – lost most of their electricity and were using generators to provide water, city officials said. REUTERS

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