Massive Russian Drone Strike on Kyiv Regional Power Plant Causes Outages

Russia carried out a massive overnight drone attack on a thermal power facility in the Kyiv region during the early hours of Monday, Sept. 8, Ukraine’s Ministry of Energy said.

Rescue workers and engineering teams are working on site to eliminate the consequences of the strike. According to the ministry, Russia’s goal is to cause additional suffering to civilians by cutting electricity and heat to homes, hospitals, schools, and kindergartens as winter approaches.

Officials stressed that power generation facilities, transmission and distribution systems, as well as gas infrastructure, are not military targets.

“Power generation facilities, electricity transmission and distribution systems, and gas infrastructure are not military targets. The enemy clearly understands it is striking critical civilian infrastructure,” the ministry added.

Air raid sirens sounded across Kyiv and several regions due to the threat from Shahed attack drones with explosions reported in the surrounding region. BBC News’ Russian service, citing Ukrainian sources, said power outages occurred in parts of Kyiv and other areas following the attack.

Ukrainian monitoring and news Telegram channels reported that enemy drones targeted the Trypillia Thermal Power Plant.

At 8:36 am, emergency crews extinguished a fire at an industrial facility caused by the drone strike, the State Emergency Service (SES) confirmed. There were no casualties or injuries.

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The Ministry of Energy said updates on power supply disruptions will be provided as the situation develops.

Earlier Kyiv Post reported that strikes early on Sunday morning were part of Russia’s biggest aerial assault since the start of the full-scale invasion, with missiles and drones raining down on multiple Ukrainian cities killing at least four people, according to Ukrainian officials.

Keith Kellogg, special envoy to US President Donald Trump, warned that Russia’s missile strike on Ukraine’s Cabinet of Ministers building marked a dangerous escalation in the war.

“The danger in any war is escalation. Russia appears to be escalating with the largest attack of the war hitting offices of the Ukrainian Cabinet in Kyiv,” Kellogg said in a statement.

He noted that he had been inside the same building with Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko just two weeks earlier.

Trump told reporters he was “not happy with the whole situation” and said he was prepared to move ahead with new sanctions against Moscow.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky urged a “strong” US response, warning that Russian President Vladimir Putin was “testing the world.”

Ukraine’s air force said Russia launched more than 800 drones and 13 missiles in the barrage, which saw the Cabinet building ablaze for the first time in the war. Svyrydenko vowed that the government would rebuild.

Russia denied striking civilian targets, saying it had targeted a defense plant and a logistics hub in Kyiv.