Russian missile barrage kills at least six and cuts power to 600,000 in Ukraine

Russian strikes killed at least six people. At least 600,000 were left without power after an overnight barrage of ballistic missiles and drones hit energy infrastructure across Ukraine, in an attack President Volodymyr Zelensky said violated the energy ceasefire announced by US President Donald Trump on Sunday.

Ukraine’s air force said Russia launched 39 ballistic and cruise missiles and 128 drones overnight, and that Ukrainian air defences shot down four of those missiles and 115 drones. Russian forces targeted two heat and power plants in Kyiv, another in the wider Kyiv region, a thermal power plant, and an electricity substation, according to the defence ministry. Other targets included a heat and power plant in Kharkiv and a thermal power plant supplying the Ukrainian military in southeast Kharkiv region. Three people died in Kyiv. 21 were injured. The figures came from DSNS, Ukraine’s state emergencies service. A strike on a multistorey building in the capital’s Desnianskyi district killed two people, while another attack in Golosiivsky district killed one, according to the state emergency service. The Ukrainian military reported two killed and six wounded in the Dnipropetrovsk region, and one person killed in the Zaporizhzhia region. More strikes followed. Kharkiv, Zhytomyr, Sumy, and Chernigiv all came under attack. DTEK, Ukraine’s largest private energy provider, said the attack caused emergency power cuts in several urban districts of Kyiv, while Al Jazeera’s Audrey MacAlpine, reporting from Kyiv, said a record number of hypersonic missiles were used in the attacks on the capital. Zelensky said Ukraine detected the missiles only as they neared Kyiv.

Zelensky said Ukraine received no early warning from Western partners about the ballistic missile attack on Kyiv, and that significant damage was done to 26 facilities of Ukraine’s power system and four facilities in the oil and gas sector. More outages loomed. He warned the disruptions could spread. ‘The strike was entirely deliberate and demonstrative in its scale – Russia has never before shown such ostentatious disrespect toward the United States,’ Zelensky said, adding, ‘Russia does not consider the American president’s statements strong.’

A ceasefire neither side confirmed

Trump announced the energy ceasefire on Sunday. He did so via social media, stating both parties had agreed. ‘Effective immediately, there is an ENERGY CEASEFIRE in the War between Russia and Ukraine. Both parties have agreed. Do not break it!’ he wrote. Both Russian and Ukrainian authorities initially denied knowledge of any such agreement, though Ukraine later welcomed the deal while Russian authorities said talks are ongoing without confirming whether they had reached one. On Monday, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Ukraine does not deserve the respite a ceasefire would bring, and that Europe would pump Ukraine with new weapons under any truce. Putin launched a full-scale invasion in 2022. Moscow controls about 20% of Ukrainian territory.

Starlink restrictions hit combat missions

Technology adviser Sergiy Beskrestnov said SpaceX introduced a speed limit for Starlink terminals in motion, with the military-grade version stopping above 160 km/h, and that defence forces were not warned, disrupting combat missions. He said the action could not be a coincidence and was linked to the current political situation. Political activist Serhii Sternenko said it is likely SpaceX acted at the request of the Trump administration. Ordinary terminals remained operational. The restrictions came as the Trump administration increased pressure on Ukraine to halt long-range strikes on Russia’s oil industry, and Musk had previously cut off Starlink service to Ukrainian soldiers during an offensive that seized a small amount of Russian territory.

Russia claims massive drone intercepts

Russia’s defence ministry said it carried out a ‘massive’ strike targeting communications and energy infrastructure in the Kyiv and Kharkiv regions, and that it hit a data centre in Kyiv used to gather intelligence on Russia’s armed forces. The ministry said 902 Ukrainian drones were shot down overnight over Russian regions. Moscow mayor Sergey Sobyanin said air defence forces downed nearly 500 drones flying towards the Russian capital overnight. Russia’s military later said only 180 were shot down near Moscow. About 160 drones were downed over the Rostov region. Saratov governor Roman Busargin said a Ukrainian drone strike killed one person in Balakovo, a city home to a Sberbank data centre, a nuclear plant, and a hydropower station. Sberbank said its data centre was attacked. All systems were operating normally.