Anna Hartz
Power Outages Hit Russian-Controlled Zaporizhia After Drone Strike
Wars are not only fought on the front lines. They also spill over into the daily lives of ordinary people.
One of the ways this happens in Ukraine is through attacks on energy systems. When the lights go out, homes go dark, hospitals switch to backup power, and entire towns are left struggling. That is exactly what happened this week in the Zaporizhia region.
Divided Since 2022
On Tuesday evening, a drone attack carried out by Ukrainian forces cut electricity in parts of Zaporizhia that are under Russian control, according to Digi24.
The region has been divided since 2022, when Russia annexed it along with Kherson, Donetsk, and Luhansk. Moscow’s forces control more than half of Zaporizhia, but Ukraine still holds the main city.
Fighting has left the region unstable, and power outages are not uncommon.
The Moscow-installed governor, Yevgeny Balitsky, said that Ukrainian drones targeted high-voltage equipment.
He called the attack an act of terrorism. Balitsky reported that repair teams were working to restore power, though their efforts were slowed by the risk of further strikes and the difficulty of working at night.
This is not the first time such an outage has happened. In June, Ukrainian shelling and drone attacks left about 700,000 people without power for more than a day.
That incident was one of the largest blackouts in Russian-occupied territory since the war began.
Largest Plant in Europe under Russian Control
Despite the damage, officials said the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant was not affected. The plant, the largest in Europe, is under Russian control and has been a constant source of international concern.
It no longer produces electricity, but it depends on a steady flow of power to keep its cooling and monitoring systems safe. Both Russia and Ukraine have accused each other of attacking the facility in the past.
Fighting was also reported outside Zaporizhia. In the Ukrainian-controlled part of Kherson, Governor Vyacheslav Prokudin said Russian shelling killed a resident in a small town north of the capital.
In the Dnipropetrovsk region, Governor Serhiy Lisak said a Russian attack killed one person in the city of Nikopol.
The conflict shows no signs of slowing, and the struggle over energy supplies remains one of its most pressing challenges.
