Russian strikes on Ukraine’s power grid knocked out three of energy giant DTEK’s five thermal power plants and left Kyiv temporarily without running water on Tuesday 3 November, as a Russian bomb hit a major hospital in Kharkiv, injuring 73 people. The overnight assault came a week before Ukrainian, US and Russian officials are due to meet for talks in Abu Dhabi.
Russian strikes on Ukraine plunge cities into darkness
The combined drone and missile attack overnight from 2 to 3 November targeted power generation and transmission in nine regions, with damage reported across 14, according to a daily war round-up published on Yahoo News. Kyiv Post reported that about 130 drones and seven missiles were launched, hitting energy and port infrastructure, and that a substation vital to the Khmelnytskyi nuclear power plant was among the targets.
Power cuts hit the capital and several other regions. Kyiv’s water utility, Kyivvodokanal, said the city lost water supply for a time after the strikes cut electricity to its facilities.
The Institute for the Study of War said the latest Russian strikes on Ukraine was part of a campaign to raise the cost of the war for ordinary Ukrainians and pressure the country to give in over the winter.
Hospital hit in Kharkiv
In Kharkiv, a Russian aerial bomb struck a large hospital, wounding 73 people including patients, medical staff and residents of nearby buildings. More than 200 patients had to be transferred to other hospitals, and a major power plant in the region was also hit.
Elsewhere:
- In Dnipro, at least one person was killed and 17 injured as a thermal power plant and other key infrastructure were struck.
- In Sloviansk, two aerial bombs killed a 68-year-old woman and injured six people on Monday.
- In the Sumy region, a 63-year-old man was killed and seven people hurt.
Search teams were still working on Tuesday at Komyshuvakha in the Zaporizhzhia region, where Monday’s strikes on an aid distribution site killed dozens. Kyiv Post reported Latvia was seeking an emergency UN Security Council meeting over the attack.
Zelensky in Berlin as talks loom
President Volodymyr Zelensky travelled to Berlin, where the two-day Berlin Security Conference opened on Tuesday, and met Chancellor Friedrich Merz to discuss air defence and energy support. Kyiv Post reported he addressed the Bundestag about Ukraine’s energy needs as a €11.6 billion aid package awaits a vote.
Officials from Ukraine, the US and Russia have given new details on three-way talks scheduled for 10 and 11 November in Abu Dhabi, according to the ISW.
Ukraine hits back at Russian refineries
While Russian strikes on Ukraine continued, Kyiv kept up its long-range campaign against Russian oil sites. A drone attack sparked a fire at the Slavneft-YANOS refinery in Yaroslavl, injuring two workers, according to regional governor Mikhail Yevrayev.
On the front line, the ISW said neither side made confirmed advances on 3 November. The war’s toll on the economy is also mounting: Ukraine’s industrial output in September was 9.2 per cent lower than a year earlier, official figures show.
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Sources: Yahoo News, Kyiv Post (ISW assessment)
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