Heavy Russian strikes on Ukraine kill 6, cut power in Kyiv

KYIV: Heavy overnight Russian strikes killed at least six people in Ukraine and cut power to large parts of the capital Kyiv, authorities said on Wednesday (Oct 14).

The attacks on multiple regions came after President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukraine had received no advance warning from Western allies before a Russian strike on a Kyiv power plant.

Ukraine relies heavily on Western intelligence to detect incoming Russian attacks and help identify targets of its own, but renewed signs of strain with US President Donald Trump have cast doubt on those arrangements.

In Kyiv, a Russian strike on a multi-storey building in Desnianskyi district killed two people, while another attack in Golosiivsky killed one, Ukraine's state emergency service said.

Ukrainian military authorities also reported that two people were killed and six wounded in Russian attacks on the Dnipropetrovsk region.

A further person was killed in the southeastern Zaporizhzhia region.

AFP reporters in Kyiv heard a series of explosions overnight and reported that electricity and water supplies were cut off in eastern parts of the city.

"Energy facilities in Kyiv and the surrounding region have come under a massive ballistic missile strike. There are power disruptions in the capital," Mayor Vitali Klitschko wrote on Telegram, urging people to remain in shelters.

DTEK, Ukraine's largest private energy provider, said on the same platform that the attack has caused emergency power cuts in the Darnytskyi, Dniprovskyi, Pecherskyi and Solomianskyi districts, as well as in part of the Golosiivsky district".

Further Russian ballistic missile attacks were reported in Kharkiv and Zhytomyr regions, and other strikes hit Sumy and Chernigiv.

The governor of Russia's Saratov region, citing preliminary estimates, said a Ukrainian drone strike had killed one person in the city of Balakovo.

Moscow mayor Sergey Sobyanin said air defence forces had downed nearly 500 drones flying towards the Russian capital overnight.

Russian authorities said around 160 more were brought down over the Rostov region, while others targeted Moscow.

NO ADVANCE WARNING

Earlier, Zelenskyy said a Russian strike on a Kyiv power facility on Tuesday evening had come without Ukraine receiving advance warning from its Western allies.

"A Russian ballistic missile attack on Kyiv. Once again, no early warning from our partners," he wrote on Facebook.

"The main target was energy infrastructure, specifically the CHP-4. Unfortunately, it was hit."

Zelenskyy said Ukraine's systems picked up the missiles only as they were nearing the city.

"This is absolutely unjust: when they are destroying our infrastructure, and Ukraine is not even receiving early warnings about ballistic missile launches," he added.

Kyiv, which is home to some three million people, has come under increasing attack from Russian drones and missiles, with energy infrastructure a key target.

Overnight from Monday to Tuesday, Kyiv residents heard explosions from Russian strikes before air raid sirens sounded, something that has occurred only rarely in the past.

Ukrainian officials attributed the issue to the Russian military's use of hard-to-detect missiles or potential technical issues.

Trump announced an "energy ceasefire" on his Truth Social network on Sunday, saying Russia and Ukraine had agreed to end their punishing long-range strikes on power infrastructure.

Zelenskyy voiced surprise at the news and said later strikes on Ukraine's energy infrastructure were Russian President Vladimir Putin's "answer" to Trump's claim.

Trump has repeatedly lashed out at Zelenskyy for strikes on Russian oil refineries and on Saturday suggested it was "time for Ukraine to get a new president".

The American leader has faced criticism from Zelenskyy, and a political backlash at home, for announcing plans last week to buy diesel from Russia despite wartime sanctions on Moscow.