Russian strikes hit Ukraine gas facilities, sparking outages

Russia launched a wave of missile and drone strikes on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure early Thursday, October 16, hitting gas facilities in the east and causing widespread power outages across eight regions, marking another large-scale winter assault on the country’s energy network.

Since the 2022 invasion, Moscow has repeatedly targeted Ukraine’s power infrastructure each winter, aiming to cripple the energy grid and pressure Kyiv to impose emergency blackouts while relying on foreign energy imports.

“There are hits and destruction in several regions at once. The operation of a number of critically important facilities has been halted,” said Sergii Koretskyi, CEO of Ukraine’s state gas company Naftogaz, in a statement.

Ukraine’s national grid operator confirmed emergency power outages in eight regions following the bombardment. “This autumn, the Russians use every single day to strike at our energy infrastructure,” President Volodymyr Zelensky said.

According to Ukraine’s air force, the Russian attack consisted of 320 drones and 37 missiles, of which 283 drones and five missiles were intercepted. The strikes primarily targeted the Kharkiv and Poltava regions, where DTEK, the country’s largest private energy company, reported that a major gas production facility had been forced to shut down.

Media reports indicate that recent Russian strikes have halted around 60 percent of Ukraine’s gas production, while attacks on power stations have left hundreds of thousands without electricity.

Although the Kremlin insists its forces only target military sites, international bodies have accused Moscow of deliberately striking civilian infrastructure. The International Criminal Court (ICC) last year issued arrest warrants for two senior Russian military officials, ruling that attacks on Ukraine’s energy network constituted a war crime due to the “excessive harm” inflicted on civilians.

In response to the renewed offensive, Kyiv has renewed its calls for more air defence systems from Western allies to safeguard critical infrastructure. Ukrainian forces have also stepped up retaliatory strikes on Russian oil refineries in an effort to disrupt Moscow’s energy production capabilities.