Kyiv recovers from largest Russian energy strike as global support grows

Power was restored to over 800,000 residents in Kyiv on Saturday, a day after Russia launched major attacks on Ukraine's power grid, causing blackouts across much of the country. Meanwhile, European leaders agreed to move forward with using hundreds of billions of frozen Russian assets to support Ukraine's war effort.

Ukraine's largest private energy company, DTEK, said that “the main work to restore the power supply” had been completed, though some localized outages continued to affect the capital following Friday's “massive” Russian attacks.

Russian drone and missile strikes wounded at least 20 people in Kyiv, damaged residential buildings, and triggered widespread blackouts early Friday. Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko described the attack as “one of the largest concentrated strikes” against Ukraine's energy infrastructure. Russia's Defence Ministry said Friday that the strikes had targeted energy facilities supplying Ukraine's military. It did not provide details of the specific facilities but said Russian forces used Kinzhal hypersonic missiles and strike drones.

Ukraine's air force reported Saturday that its defenses intercepted or jammed 54 of 78 Russian drones launched overnight, while Russia's defence ministry claimed to have shot down 42 Ukrainian drones over Russian territory.

At least two people were killed and five wounded in airstrikes on Kostiantynivka, a city in Ukraine's Donetsk region, Saturday, according to regional Governor Vadim Filashkin. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Saturday that he had a “very positive and productive” phone call with US President Donald Trump. In a post on X, Zelenskyy said he informed Trump about the Russian attacks on Ukraine's energy system and discussed opportunities to strengthen Ukraine's air defense. “There needs to be readiness on the Russian side to engage in real diplomacy this can be achieved through strength,” Zelenskyy wrote.

Ukraine's energy sector has been a key battleground since Russia launched its full-scale invasion more than three years ago. Each year, Russia has attempted to cripple the Ukrainian power grid ahead of the bitter winter season, apparently hoping to weaken public morale. Winter temperatures in Ukraine run from late October through March, with January and February being the coldest months.

In his nightly address Friday, Zelenskyy said Russia was taking advantage of the world being “almost entirely focused on the prospect of establishing peace in the Middle East” and called for strengthening Ukraine's air defense systems and implementing tighter sanctions on Russia. “Russian assets must be fully used to strengthen our defense and ensure recovery,” he said in a video posted to X.

Meanwhile, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron, and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said in a joint statement Friday that they were ready to move toward using “in a coordinated way, the value of the immobilized Russian sovereign assets to support Ukraine's armed forces and thus bring Russia to the negotiation table.” The statement added that this would be done “in close cooperation with the United States.”

Ukraine's budget and military needs for 2026 and 2027 are estimated at around 130 billion euros (USD 153 billion). The European Union has already contributed 174 billion euros (approximately USD 202 billion) since the war began in February 2022. The largest available funds come from frozen Russian assets, most of which are held in Belgium, totaling around 194 billion euros (USD 225 billion) as of June. Additional funds are held outside the EU in Japan (around USD 50 billion) and smaller amounts in the US, United Kingdom, and Canada.