Russia launches one of the largest aerial strikes on Ukraine, targets energy grid

Editor’s note: This is a developing story and is being updated.
Russia launched a large-scale missile and drone attack on Ukraine overnight on Nov. 17, leaving at least seven civilians dead and at least 19 injured across multiple regions.
Multiple loud explosions were reported in the capital, Kyiv, between 6:30 and 7:15 a.m. local time, according to a Kyiv Independent journalist on the ground.
Russia’s latest barrage of missile strikes marks the first mass missile attack on Kyiv in over 2 months, with Russia instead utilizing more frequent drone strikes in recent months to attack the capital.
Further explosions were also heard in the cities of Kropyvnytskyi, Rivne, Ivano-Frankivsk, Cherkasy, Dnipro, Vinnytsia, Kryvyi Rih, Odesa, Zaporizhzhia, as well as in the Khmelnytskyi and Volyn oblasts.
Russia targeted “power generation and transmission facilities throughout Ukraine,” according to Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko.
“The transmission system operator has urgently introduced emergency shutdowns,” Halushchenko said. Officials have been warning that Russia may resume strikes on the energy grid as temperatures drop, mirroring the strategy used in the spring and summer of this year and in the autumn-winter season of 2022-2023.
Kyiv Mayor Vitalii Klitschko said that as a result of falling drone debris, an apartment on the fourth floor of a five-story residential building caught fire in the Pechersk neighborhood of the city. One person was hospitalized as a result of the attack, while one other person received medical treatment on-site.
Debris was also reported in the Holosiivskyi and Dniprovskyi districts of the capital, according to the Kyiv City Military Administration.
Several residential and commercial buildings, a club building, and a library were damaged in the capital.
A 45-year-old woman was injured in Kyiv Oblast, suffering a head wound, Governor Ruslan Kravchenko reported. Fallen debris damaged industrial facilities, 21 houses, and other buildings across the region.
In addition to the attack on Kyiv, at least two people were killed and seven injured, including two children, in the city of Mykolaiv amid Russia’s mass drone and missile attack, regional governor Vitalii Kim reported.
In the city of Dnipro, a 42-year-old man suffered shrapnel wounds as a result of the attack. High-rise buildings, an educational institution, and a car were damaged, Governor Serhii Lysak reported.
Russia also struck a railway depot in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, killing two railway workers and injuring three, Ukrainian Railways (Ukrzaliznytsia) said on its Telegram channel. It is not immediately clear whether the number of injured includes the 42-year-old man reported previously by the governor.
Critical infrastructure facilities were hit in the Vinnytsia, Odesa, and Volyn oblasts, leading to power outages and emergency shutdowns, regional authorities said. No casualties were reported.
Infrastructure facilities were also targeted in Zaporizhzhia Oblast. Two people were reported injured in the regional center, the city of Zaporizhzhia. A 59-year-old man was hospitalized, and an 18-year-old man received medical assistance on the spot, Governor Ivan Fedorov said.
In Lviv Oblast, 12 garages caught fire due to fallen missile debris. A 66-year-old woman was killed in her car by the debris in the Sheptytskyi (formerly Chervonohrad) district, Governor Maksym Kozytskyi reported. Two more people were injured.
Two people were killed, and a 17-year-old boy was injured in Odesa Oblast, Governor Oleh Kiper reported. One civilian was reportedly hospitalized with serious injuries in Poltava Oblast.
An outbuilding and a house were damaged in Zhytomyr Oblast. Regional authorities also reported that a critical infrastructure site was damaged in Rivne Oblast, and a house was damaged by fallen debris in Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast.
“Cruise, ballistic, and air-launched ballistic missiles, Zirkons, Iskanders, Kinzhals. In total, around 120 missiles and 90 drones (were launched by Russia),” President Volodymyr Zelensky said following the attack.
This makes it one of the most massive strikes launched on Ukraine throughout the full-scale war.
“Our air defenses destroyed more than 140 aerial targets… We are grateful to our air defense forces involved in the attack, our aviation – F-16, Sukhoi, and MiG pilots – mobile fire groups, electronic warfare units, everybody worked in an organized manner,” Zelensky said.
In response to the mass attack, the Operational Command of the Polish Armed Forces scrambled fighter jets to protect the country’s own airspace. “Ground-based air defense and radar reconnaissance systems have reached the highest state of readiness,” the Operational Command added.
Ukraine’s Air Force issued air raid alerts across all regions of the country around 6 a.m. local time, warning of the attack. The alert ended in much of Ukraine at around 9:30 a.m.
Multiple cruise, ballistic, and hypersonic missiles were reportedly launched from the Black Sea, as well as Russia’s Astrakhan Oblast and Krasnodar Krai, toward multiple regions. Russian attack drones were also present in multiple cities across the country, including Kyiv.
Ukraine’s Air Force reported earlier in the night that Tu-95 strategic bombers took off from the Russian airfields of Olenya in Murmansk Oblast. Later in the night, the War Monitor Telegram channel reported that a total of 17 Tu-95 strategic bombers were in flight, with seven taking off at the Engels airbase in Saratov Oblast.
In recent months, Russia has primarily focused on large-scale drone attacks to overwhelm Ukrainian air defenses in cities across the country. The Ukrainian Air Force previously said that Russia launched at least 4,300 Shahed-type attack drones and similar UAVs imitating Shaheds against Ukraine between August and October 2024.
While missile attacks are a common occurrence in Ukraine’s eastern oblasts, most Ukrainian cities, including Kyiv, have largely been spared from large-scale Russian missile attacks on infrastructure in recent months — with the last large-scale missile attack occurring in late August.