Russia claims it carried out a massive overnight strike against Ukrainian communications and energy infrastructure in and around Kyiv, as well as port targets in the Odesa region, while Ukrainian officials reported three civilians killed — including a child — and seven injured in the attacks on the capital and its surroundings.
Moscow's defence ministry said on Wednesday that long-range precision weapons and attack drones struck the De Novo data centre in Kyiv, which it described as a major internet traffic exchange hub supporting Ukraine's armed forces. In the Kyiv region, Russia said it hit the Kyivska power substation near Nalyvaikivka, the Kyiv hydroelectric power plant in Vyshhorod, the Trypilska thermal power plant and an energy storage facility in Horenychi. According to Moscow, these facilities supplied electricity to Ukraine's military-industrial sector and military sites in and around the capital. Reuters reported it could not immediately verify the Russian claims.
The strike on the De Novo data centre extends what has become an almost three-week Russian campaign against Ukraine's digital infrastructure. Major operators and providers in Kyiv and the surrounding area — including Ukrtelecom, Kyivstar, Vodafone, De Novo and Datagroup — have reported damaged equipment since mid-September, with strikes on September 23–24 alone leaving around 100 homes in Kyiv and the region temporarily without internet access. Moscow has framed the campaign in military terms, claiming the facilities transmit intelligence and communications for the Ukrainian military; Kyiv has warned the attacks are aimed at destabilising everyday life.
Izmail port and Black Sea shipping in the crosshairs
In the Odesa region, Russia said it struck an industrial complex at the port of Izmail that it claimed was used to receive, store and transport military cargo and fuel for the Ukrainian military. It also said it hit a dry cargo vessel in the northwestern Black Sea that was allegedly carrying military equipment and dual-use goods to the port of Odesa.
The claims continue a pattern of Russian assertions of strikes on maritime targets supplying Ukraine. On Sunday, Moscow said it had hit three cargo vessels bound for Odesa and another vessel in the port of Chornomorsk, along with data centres in Kyiv and logistics hubs — claims Reuters likewise could not independently verify. Romania and Poland both scrambled military jets to protect their airspace as the overnight attacks unfolded, according to defence ministry and armed forces statements.
Civilian toll in Kyiv and the region
Ukrainian officials described a night of fires and damage across the capital. Kyiv's mayor Vitali Klitschko said fires broke out in private houses as well as a shop and a warehouse, with two people injured in the city. More than a dozen explosions shook the capital just before 3 a.m., with further blasts heard around 3:40 a.m., according to reports.
Kyiv region governor Tymur Tkachenko said a Russian missile and drone strike killed a child and injured three more people, damaging infrastructure facilities, houses, warehouses and cars. In the Sviatoshynskyi district, a dozen homes were damaged; a non-residential building and a warehouse were set ablaze in the Podilskyi district. Just outside the capital, a child was found killed under the rubble of a home in Vyshhorod, and in Bucha three homes, 11 vehicles and two warehouses were damaged. Power company DTEK said its workers restored electricity for 8,000 households in Kyiv.
Air defences strained as energy diplomacy runs in parallel
Ukraine's air force said Russia launched 188 strike drones overnight, including 86 jet-powered ones, of which 155 were suppressed or shot down, with hits recorded in 18 locations, mainly in the Kyiv region. The figures are Ukraine's claims and could not be independently verified. The heavy use of jet-powered drones is the latest evolution in Russia's night-after-night campaign, which President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has described as an attempt to break civilian resistance.
The strikes landed even as diplomatic efforts touched on energy infrastructure. On Monday, Russian envoy Kirill Dmitriev was in Washington for talks with US officials on the Ukraine war and possible post-war energy initiatives, following a meeting last week between Donald Trump and Zelenskyy in New York where, Zelenskyy said, the two discussed a potential ceasefire on energy-related targets. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has also discussed a limited ceasefire covering grain and energy targets with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov — an initiative he acknowledged "won't be easy."
Russia's latest overnight claims have not been independently verified, but the pattern is clear: Moscow is systematically targeting the data centres, power plants and ports it says sustain Ukraine's war effort, while Ukrainian civilians continue to pay the price.
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