Russian forces conducted a series of air strikes across Ukraine on Wednesday, Oct. 14, targeting energy and communications infrastructure, which Ukrainian officials said resulted in at least six deaths and widespread power outages. The attacks occurred days after United States President Donald Trump announced an “energy ceasefire” between the two countries.
Ukraine’s state emergency service reported that missile strikes in Kyiv killed three people, with two deaths in the Desnianskyi district and one in the Golosiivskyi district. Officials also reported two fatalities in the Dnipropetrovsk region and another in the Zaporizhzhia region.
In the capital, Mayor Vitali Klitschko confirmed on the Telegram messaging app that energy facilities had been hit by a “massive ballistic missile strike” and urged residents to remain in shelters. DTEK, Ukraine’s largest private energy company, stated that the attacks caused emergency power cuts in several districts of Kyiv. Ukrainian media reported additional strikes in the Kharkiv, Zhytomyr, Sumy, and Chernihiv regions.
The Russian Defence Ministry, via the Interfax news agency, stated its forces carried out a “massive” strike against Ukrainian energy and communications facilities. The ministry said its targets included power and heating plants in Kyiv and Kharkiv, as well as a data center in the capital it claimed was used for military intelligence purposes.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated that Ukraine’s partners did not provide advance warning of the ballistic missile attack on Kyiv. In a social media post, he accused Russia of violating the recently announced ceasefire, calling the strike “entirely deliberate and demonstrative in its scale.”
“Russia has never before shown such ostentatious disrespect towards the United States,” Zelenskyy added in a separate post.
In a related development, Sergiy Beskrestnov, a technology adviser to the Ukrainian president, said that the company SpaceX appeared to have placed a speed limit on its Starlink internet terminals. Beskrestnov claimed the restriction disrupted some military missions and that defense forces were not warned in advance.
Russian officials also reported Ukrainian drone attacks on Russian territory overnight. Roman Busargin, the governor of Russia’s Saratov region, said a drone strike killed one person in the city of Balakovo. Sberbank, a major Russian lender, confirmed its data center in the region was attacked by drones but said all systems were operating normally.
Russia’s military later announced that its air defense systems had downed 902 Ukrainian drones overnight. Authorities in Moscow and the Rostov region also reported intercepting numerous drones.
