All major Ukrainian thermal and hydroelectric power plants have been damaged in Russian attacks, Ukraine’s Energy Ministry said, severely limiting the country’s electricity production while demand remains unchanged.
Russia regularly targets Ukraine’s energy infrastructure with both missiles and drones, stepping up attacks as winter approaches. These strikes mirror tactics used in previous years to disrupt civilian life and critical services, adding pressure to an already fragile network.
System strain forces focus on essential services
The ministry warned that the strikes have left the system under intense strain, with available capacity now focused entirely on keeping homes and essential services powered.
Officials stressed that all available domestic generation is now devoted to internal consumption, with no commercial exports occurring.
Years-long Russian terror campaign targets civilian infrastructure
Russia has systematically targeted Ukraine's energy infrastructure since launching its full-scale invasion in 2022, with attacks intensifying each winter to maximize civilian suffering.
By April 2024, Russian strikes had damaged 80% of Ukraine's thermal power plants and half of its hydroelectric facilities. The campaign escalated dramatically in 2025, with Moscow destroying over 50% of Ukraine's pre-war generating capacity - including roughly 70% of thermal generation - in the first half of the year alone.
In October, Russian forces wiped out 60% of Ukraine's domestic gas production just weeks before the heating season, forcing Kyiv to divert $1.9 billion toward emergency imports. By early November, much of the country was facing 12-hour blackouts.
The attacks follow a systematic pattern, with coordinated assaults using hundreds of drones and dozens of missiles targeting both generation sites and transmission networks to complicate restoration efforts.
