Kiev launches counterattack after Russia's 'most massive strike' on Ukraine's power grid
Global Times
By Liu Caiyu Published: Nov 10, 2025 08:52 PM
Ukraine launched a drone counterattack overnight into Sunday with strikes on Russian energy infrastructure, leaving more than 20,000 people without power in border regions on Sunday, following that Russia launched what the Ukraine state grid operator called the "most massive strike" against its power plants.
According to Reuters, power in the city of Taganrog in southern Russia has been fully restored, local authorities said on Sunday. Some parts of the city in the Rostov region were left without power for several hours due to an emergency shutdown of a high-voltage line.
Earlier, Kiev endured more than 12 hours of emergency power cuts after what The Kiev Independent described as "one of the largest" Russian attacks on Ukraine's energy infrastructure.
Euronews reported that Kiev and Kharkiv experienced massive blackouts on Saturday evening after a large combined missile and drone attack. Ukrainian outlets published photos and videos of the streets of the two cities plunged into darkness.
According to Ukrainian Energy Minister Svitlana Hrynchuk, the worst damage was in Kharkiv, Poltava and Donetsk regions, caused by repeated overnight strikes in Sumy and Chernihiv.
Amid intensified Russian strikes on its energy infrastructure, President Volodymyr Zelensky said in an interview with the Guardian published on Nov. 9 that Ukraine plans to order 27 Patriot air defense systems from US companies and hopes to borrow the crucial system from its European allies in the meantime, The Kiev Independent reported.
Entering its fifth year, the conflict has settled into a war of attrition across a vast frontline, Sun Xiuwen, an associate professor for the Institute for Central Asian Studies at Lanzhou University, told the Global Times.
Although Russian forces enjoy advantages in manpower and equipment, they have struggled to achieve strategic breakthroughs. The recent strikes, which caused emergency power outages in Ukraine, were aimed at degrading the country's military capabilities, Sun added.
Pokrovsk, a key transportation and logistical hub in the Donbas region, has become one of the most intensely contested battlefields in the current conflict. "The fall of the city is almost a foregone conclusion and it could be a biggest victory for the Russian army since May 2023," Sun said.
Meanwhile, Ukraine's military has adopted an active defense strategy, using technologies such as drones to strike energy facilities in Russia's rear areas, Sun noted.
Russia's defence ministry said days earlier that its forces had advanced in the battered Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk and were fighting house-to-house to drive out Ukrainian troops, according to Reuters.
Analyzing the situation, Sun told the Global Times that Russia is unlikely to give up its battlefield advantages and will most likely continue its long-standing strategy of "fighting while talking, leveraging military gains to secure diplomatic victories."
Russia's position remains unchanged, which is that Ukraine must not join NATO and must undergo demilitarization and recognize the current status of Russian-occupied territories.
For Ukraine, Sun said, its pursuit of reliable security guarantees to safeguard its future sovereignty and security remains unchanged.
"The key variables in the negotiation leverage primarily stem from US policy decisions and developments on the battlefield," Sun said.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Sunday that he was ready to meet US Secretary of State Marco Rubio but that Russia would not abandon its core conditions for ending the war, Reuters reported. "It is important for discussing the Ukrainian issue and promoting the bilateral agenda. That is why we communicate by telephone and are ready to hold face-to-face meetings when necessary," Lavrov said.
|
NEWSLETTER
|
| Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list |
|
|
|
