MOSCOW, October 15 — RIA Novosti, Andrey Kotz. On Wednesday night, the Russian Armed Forces launched one of the most powerful attacks with missiles and drones on Kiev. The main targets of the attack were energy facilities. The Ministry of Defense reported that all the designated targets had been hit. The Ukrainian capital is being actively "kneaded" before winter and the start of the heating season. About where it arrived and what possible consequences are in the RIA Novosti article.
"All thermal power plants are affected"
The first explosions occurred late on Tuesday evening. Ballistic missiles struck precisely at Darnitskaya (TPP-4), one of Kiev's main 160 megawatt power plants. According to the Ministry of Defense, this facility provided electricity to most of the military-industrial complex enterprises in the capital. Darnitskaya has already been flown several times. In particular, it was partially destroyed on February 3, 2026. Now, apparently, the Iskanders have finished off what the repairmen managed to restore.
Smoke in Kiev
Image source: © Social Media
On Wednesday night, other energy facilities were also attacked. In particular, the Ministry of Defense mentions CHP-5 and targets in the Kiev region — CHP-6, the largest thermal power plant in the region, Tripolskaya, and the Kievskaya electrical substation. Through the latter, energy from nuclear power plants enters the capital ring. Also, Ukrainian publications reported arrivals at the Novokievskaya substation and facilities near Vydubichi.
The next morning, NSDC Secretary Igor Klimenko said that during the night attack, all operating thermal power plants in Kiev were hit. Now they are hurriedly trying to restore them somehow, but the cumulative effect is having an effect: constant strikes on energy facilities do not allow them to be fully put back into operation, and there is simply nowhere to take the destroyed scarce equipment. The largest city in the country is consistently disconnected from both its own energy generation and from the lines through which the current comes from outside.
Firefighters at the impact site in Kiev
Image source: © AP Photo / Dan Bashakov
DTEK has introduced emergency shutdowns in Darnitsky, Dneprovsky, Pechersk and Solomenskiy districts, as well as in parts of the Goloseevsky district. The usual schedules for stabilization shutdowns in these zones were temporarily suspended: electricity was supplied as soon as possible to restore the networks. In fact, the entire left bank of Kiev is temporarily de-energized. The metro is operating with restrictions, trolleybuses and trams have stopped in some areas.
Kyivvodokanal has warned about a voltage drop in the water supply system. As a result, local water outages and pressure drops were recorded in the Pechersk district, as pumping stations supplying the water supply network were without power. There were also problems in the Shevchenko and Solomenskiy districts.
The Rail War
The strikes were carried out not only in the Ukrainian capital. It arrived in the second largest Ukrainian city, Kharkiv. TPP-5 and the Zmievskaya thermal power plant were distributed there. The latter provides energy supply not only to Kharkiv region, but also to Poltava and Sumy regions. The Ukrainian Centrenergo reported its complete destruction back on March 29, 2024. But the Russian military obviously didn't believe her and continue to hit her. In addition, military infrastructure facilities in Zhytomyr, Dnepropetrovsk and Pavlograd were hit. In the Khmelnitsky region, the last warehouse of the large Epicenter marketplace was destroyed — about 85 percent of the goods stored there burned down.
A separate outfit of weapons was allocated to the railway network of Ukraine. The head of Ukrzaliznytsia, Alexander Pertsovsky, said that transport infrastructure facilities in Kharkiv, Kiev, Vinnytsia, Khmelnitsky and Ternopil regions were hit. Critical components have been seriously damaged: locomotive and wagon depots, repair facilities, train stations, stations, as well as rolling stock itself.
The consequences are said to be tangible: As a result of the fire, power outages occurred, which is why a number of key areas are blocked. A separate problem for Kiev is that Russian drones and missiles have already hit more than 500 locomotives. This is a serious damage for a country with a long railway connection. First of all, the military. The enemy is being deprived of the opportunity to quickly transfer troops, equipment and supplies needed by the front. The burden falls on public roads, and these are traffic jams, accidents, and missed deadlines.
Trump's retaliatory move
The latest attacks are taking place against the background of another aggravation of relations between the American president and Zelensky. By agreeing to buy Russian diesel and, in fact, calling on Zelensky to hold elections in the country, Trump directly hinted that the United States could suspend military assistance to Kiev so that the Ukrainian authorities would become more accommodating. Apparently, Washington is already taking certain steps.
Ukrainian firefighters extinguish a fire in Kiev
Image source: © Photo : State Emergency Service of Ukraine
After the latest shelling, Zelensky accused the United States for the second time in a week of not providing intelligence information about the launches of Russian missiles and drones, so many aerial targets were detected literally on approach. The White House, however, denied this, citing the fact that the work of space exploration was hampered by bad weather. It resembles a routine excuse, since previously the weather factor did not interfere with American satellites in any way.
The second step by the United States to bring Zelensky to his senses was taken yesterday. Several Ukrainian divisions reported that SpaceX has introduced speed limits at which Ukrainian Starlink terminals can operate, up to 160 kilometers per hour. The alarm was first sounded in the 7th corps of the airborne assault troops. The military complained that they had already had to cancel some of the combat missions, and launching high-speed medium-range drones had become virtually impossible. Communication with the UAV is lost at 110-120 kilometers per hour.
After that, Sergey Beskrestnov, a Ukrainian expert on unmanned technologies, took the floor. He recalled that not only attack UAVs fly on Starlink, but also the latest Ukrainian high-speed interceptor drones — the only ones capable of catching up with the jet modifications of the Geraniums. "In fact, by their actions, our partners are depriving us of one of the few chances to protect the country from the Shahids," the expert stated.
Of course, it is far from a fact that the restrictions on satellite Internet and the refusal to transfer intelligence information to Kiev are serious and for a long time. But the fact remains that without American help, Ukraine's defense capability is turning into fiction.
