Key facts
- Kyivvodokanal said power outages at its facilities disrupted water supplies across all districts of Kyiv.
- Mayor Vitali Klitschko said water pressure was gradually returning to normal as of 3:13 p.m. local time on November 5.
- Metro trains resumed at 1:05 p.m. local time at nine-minute intervals, against a usual three to five minutes.
- Oleksandr Kharchenko said repair work is limited because of constant attacks and the energy grid is unstable.
Kyiv residents faced renewed water supply disruptions on November 5, as voltage fluctuations following Russian attacks also affected metro operations, local authorities said.
Kyivvodokanal, the municipal utility responsible for water supply and wastewater services in Kyiv and the surrounding region, said at around 1:30 p.m. local time that power outages at its facilities had disrupted water supplies across all districts of the capital. Mayor Vitali Klitschko said at 3:13 p.m. local time that water pressure in the capital's supply system was gradually returning to normal, with service being restored in areas affected by the outages.
With the arrival of autumn, Russian forces launched a new wave of attacks on Ukraine's energy infrastructure, which was already under heavy strain from damage sustained during previous attacks. As electricity consumption rises with colder weather, Russia carried out on November 3 its largest attack on energy facilities in 2026. Following the strike, water supplies were cut off across Kyiv for more than 24 hours.
Power supply disruptions also affected Kyiv's metro system. Around noon, train services on the line running across both banks of the Dnipro River were temporarily suspended due to voltage fluctuations, the Kyiv City State Administration said. Train services resumed at 1:05 p.m. local time, but trains were running at nine-minute intervals, compared with the usual three to five minutes at that time of day.
"The problem is that the energy grid is not stable and is being repaired at the moment. The damages are the consequences of the attacks over the last 3 months. Meanwhile, repair work is limited because of constant attacks," Oleksandr Kharchenko, director of the Energy Industry Research Center, told the Kyiv Independent.
Kharchenko previously told the Kyiv Independent that the capital was facing severe water outages because Russian forces destroyed power generation at three combined heat and power plants in January 2026. Before then, the plants were able to power Kyiv's water system, which requires huge amount of electricity. Kyivvodokanal lacks backup power generation to operate Kyiv's large pumping stations; diesel generators have been installed at smaller pumping stations but are not powerful enough to run larger ones, the Kyiv Independent previously reported.
Russia resumed its energy blitz on Kyiv in late September, bringing rolling power outages back to the capital as winter approaches. With fears of another harsh wartime winter and Russia utilizing new attack methods, many residents have started to leave the capital.