Russian strikes hit substations linking Ukraine’s nuclear plants to grid, Zelensky says

Russian missiles and drones damaged electricity substations that connect Ukraine’s nuclear power plants to the grid around Kyiv and in several other regions overnight, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on 7 November.

According to The Kyiv Independent, one of the facilities hit in Kyiv Oblast ties the Rivne and Khmelnytskyi nuclear plants in the west to the capital and to central Ukraine. Ukrainska Pravda, citing Zelensky, reported that the main target of the combined strike on the night of 6–7 November was the country’s energy infrastructure. Substations were also damaged in the Vinnytsia, Zhytomyr, Rivne, Kharkiv and Dnipro regions, the president said.

Scale of the attack

Russia used 172 drones and 36 ballistic missiles, Zelensky said, and every one of the missiles was aimed at Kyiv and the area around it. The Air Force told The Kyiv Independent that 137 of the drones were jet-powered. It also said Russia fired an unspecified number of Iskander-M, Zircon, KN-23 and S-400 missiles.

Ukrainian air defences shot down 149 drones, 117 of them jet-powered, along with four missiles, the Air Force said. Drones still struck 24 locations, and falling debris was recorded at ten more. Twelve regions besides the capital came under attack, Zelensky added.

Kyiv’s supplies strained

In a post on X, Zelensky said the capital was struggling with electricity, water and heating. Residential buildings and the Northern Bridge were damaged, he wrote. Ukrainska Pravda reported that the bridge was closed to traffic in both directions and that a kindergarten was partly destroyed.

The National Police said energy facilities were hit in the Bucha and Obukhiv districts of Kyiv Oblast. Neither outlet reported any warning from the nuclear operators about the plants themselves; the damage described concerns the substations that carry their output. The Kyiv Independent said repair and rescue work was continuing in the affected regions wherever the security situation permitted.

Talks and sanctions

Zelensky linked the strike to diplomacy. Russia, he said, was preparing for trilateral talks by launching ballistic missiles at Ukraine’s critical infrastructure, according to the post quoted by The Kyiv Independent.

Ukrainska Pravda added that he appealed to the United States, and Congress in particular, to support Ukraine and tighten sanctions against Russia. The reports did not say whether Washington had responded.

Beyond the energy sites, Russian forces kept up attacks along the front and in border regions overnight and through the day, according to regional officials cited by The Kyiv Independent. In Vinnytsia Oblast, the State Emergency Service said one of its units’ buildings and equipment were damaged, along with civilian property near a local market.

What remains unclear

Neither outlet gave a timetable for restoring supplies in Kyiv or details of how long the damaged substations would be out of service. Nor did they say whether the output of the Rivne and Khmelnytskyi plants had to be reduced as a result. Ukrainian officials have not yet said when the trilateral talks Zelensky mentioned would take place.