Russian drones and missiles leave thousands across Ukraine in darkness Energy minister states

Ukraine’s Deputy Energy Minister Mykola Kolesnyk said on January 9 that thousands of households across the country remain without electricity after Russia launched a massive overnight strike targeting both energy and civilian infrastructure.

According to Kolesnyk, the attack involved more than 240 assault drones and 36 missiles launched from land and sea.

He said the strikes caused extensive damage to Ukraine’s power transmission network, hitting substations, overhead lines, and generating facilities. As of the morning, over 500,000 consumers in Kyiv and the wider Kyiv region were without power.

Emergency blackouts have been put in place on Kyiv’s Left Bank and in parts of the surrounding region due to severe network damage, while scheduled hourly outages remain in effect on the capital’s Right Bank.

The city of Slavutych also lost electricity again following the attacks on the energy system. In the Chernihiv region, roughly 3,000 consumers were without power as of the morning.

Kolesnyk added that in the Dnipropetrovsk region, electricity had been restored since yesterday to more than one million people who lost supply due to Russian strikes on January 7–8. Despite progress, more than 34,000 customers in the region remained without electricity this morning, and repair work continues.

He also noted that adverse weather conditions have left more than 1,000 settlements fully or partially without power across several regions, with the largest disruptions reported in the Kyiv and Chernihiv regions. Repair teams are working to restore supply wherever conditions allow.

By Tamilla Hasanova