This handout photograph taken and released by the Donetsk Region Prosecutor's Office on October 8, 2026 shows one of the two passenger buses struck by projectiles in Kramatorsk, near the frontline in eastern Ukraine (AFP Photo)
Urgent repairs are being carried out in Ukraine after Russian strikes on the country's electricity network, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Oct. 9.
Russia has admitted targeting the grid in a repeat of its deliberate tactic in the nearly five-year war of hitting power and heating before winter.
Several regions have been hit by power cuts already, while rolling blackouts have been introduced to ease pressure on the system, including in the capital, Kiev.
Zelensky said in a post on X that the Russian strikes had caused "extensive damage to power grids and electricity transmission facilities."
"Restoration work is underway around the clock."
On Oct. 8 night, all three lines of the Kiev metro were temporarily suspended due to power disruptions, cutting services, as well as lights and escalators.
Large parts of the city's historic center also went dark, with shops and restaurants keeping the lights on using generators.
The strikes, using powerful ballistic and cruise missiles as well as attack drones, have forced operators to introduce rolling outages while parts of the city were also without water for several hours earlier this week.
City mayor Vitali Klitschko told AFP in an interview on Oct. 8 that Kiev, which has seen bridges and other key infrastructure attacked, was now in "survival" mode as winter approaches.
Residents in the city have been making plans in case the energy system is knocked out again during the months of sub-zero temperatures.
Last year, Kiev was plunged into darkness and bitter cold for weeks when Russia hit power and heating infrastructure, as temperatures dropped as low as -20 degrees Celsius.
Zelensky in his post said he had told military and government officials that "slow-walking" winter resilience plans was "completely unacceptable", after concerns about contingencies.
Meanwhile, a Ukrainian drone strike damaged a data center belonging to Russian technology giant Yandex. The company said on Oct. 9 that several modules at the center in Russia’s Kaluga region had been “completely disabled.”
Russian attacks have killed dozens of civilians across Ukraine over the past days using a mix of ballistic missiles and jet-powered drones. On Oct. 8, a Russian guided bomb exploded next to public buses filled with passengers in eastern Ukraine, killing 30 people.
A day earlier, a Russian missile strike killed 22 people, including five children, in the northern Ukrainian town of Pryluky.
Meanwhile President Donald Trump’s envoys were to meet Ukrainian and European officials in Miami on Oct. 8 to discuss “new ideas” and seek a unified proposal to end the war with Russia, two U.S. sources told AFP.
“The Ukrainian negotiating team is due to meet Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff in the U.S. tomorrow,” Zelensky said on Oct. 8. “The meeting is expected to last two days. We are also counting on a European team to join our negotiating group.”
“The American negotiators also invited national security advisors from the United Kingdom, France, and Germany, as well as officials from NATO and the European Union”, one of the U.S. sources familiar with the talks told AFP.
