Russia hits Ukraine grid in heaviest attack in months

Russia unleashed its heaviest combined assault on Ukraine's energy infrastructure in months on Wednesday, killing seven people and triggering emergency power cuts in Kyiv and surrounding regions. State grid operator Ukrenergo imposed emergency cuts in the capital for the first time since spring.

Ukrainian officials said seven people, including a child, were killed in the drone and missile barrage. A key power plant and energy facilities around the capital were damaged, and Kyiv residents woke to a city wreathed in smoke. Some trams and trolley buses halted and water pressure dropped as outages spread.

Ukraine's air force said its defences intercepted 254 of 285 Russian drones by early evening. Prime Minister Sergii Koretskyi said Russia had escalated to massive strikes on energy infrastructure, and that a combined strike of this scale had not happened since the end of last heating season.

The strikes come days after Zelenskyy warned at the UN that Ukraine would make winter "painful for Russia too" without an energy truce. Moldova reported drones entering its airspace, and Romania and Poland scrambled jets, briefly suspending flights at Poland's Lublin and Rzeszow airports.