In brief
The Russian Defence Ministry reported an overnight strike on Ukrainian facilities that supply electricity to military‑industrial enterprises, hitting thermal power plants, substations, port infrastructure and bulk carriers. Ukrainian authorities said 130 settlements in Zhytomyr lost power, while Kharkiv, Kyiv and Dnipropetrovsk experienced outages affecting heating and public transportation. Aljazeera reported at least 73 civilians injured when Russian ballistic missiles hit a hospital and other power plants, although casualty details remain uncertain.
Russia’s Defence Ministry announced on 3 November that its forces executed an overnight strike on Ukrainian energy installations, claiming precision‑guided weapons and attack drones were used to target facilities that supply electricity to military‑industrial enterprises. The strike reportedly included four thermal power plants and several substations in the Vinnytsia, Dnepropetrovsk and Kharkov regions. Port infrastructure in the Odessa region and two bulk carriers carrying military and dual‑use cargo in the Black Sea were also reported as targets.
Authorities in the Zhytomyr region said about 130 settlements were left without power, prompting widespread disruptions. In Kharkiv, heating services were suspended and public electronic transport halted. Ukrainian reports from Kiev and Dnipropetrovsk also confirmed outages after the overnight attacks, though the exact extent of damage was not immediately quantified.
Aljazeera reported that at least 73 people were injured when Russian ballistic missiles struck a Ukrainian hospital and other power plants. The details of the hospital hit, the number of casualties beyond the 73 injured, and the specifics of the missiles used remain unclear, reflecting the difficulty of obtaining independent verification amid ongoing hostilities.
Both Russian and Ukrainian officials have highlighted the strategic nature of the targets, while independent observers question the degree of damage inflicted. Ukrainian sources confirm that the outages have already affected electric supplies to civilian and military infrastructure, but have not yet provided a comprehensive assessment of the full scale of the impact on the national grid.
There is still uncertainty about several aspects of the reported attack. The exact number of settlements affected outside Zhytomyr, the precise amount of power lost in each city, the operational status of the hit thermal plants after the strike, the condition of the two bulk carriers, and the total casualties, including any beyond the 73 injuries reported by Aljazeera, remain unverified. The accuracy of the claims made by the Russian Defence Ministry, as well as the full extent of the damage claimed by Ukrainian authorities, have not yet been independently corroborated.
