Key facts
- Zelenskiy said Russia fired 289 drones, 17 ballistic missiles and 59 cruise missiles overnight at power plants and substations.
- DTEK said three of its five thermal power plants were knocked offline.
- Zelenskiy said 33 people were killed when Russia twice bombed a school in Komyshuvakha on Monday, with about 50 believed buried.
- Russia's Defence Ministry said it struck electricity facilities supplying military factories and the Ukrainian army.
- Ukraine's prime minister said a train station, passenger carriages and locomotives were hit.
- German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said he had seen no sign Russia would engage in serious talks.
Russia struck Ukraine's energy infrastructure in waves on Tuesday, November 3, 2026, with dozens of missiles and hundreds of drones, cutting power to large parts of the country a week before US-brokered peace talks were due to resume, Reuters reported. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Russia launched 289 drones, 17 ballistic missiles and 59 cruise missiles overnight, hitting power plants and substations from the Black Sea port of Odesa to Rivne in the west.
Zelenskiy said at least 33 people were killed on Monday when Russia twice bombed a school being used for aid distribution in the village of Komyshuvakha, near the front line in the Zaporizhzhia region, and that about 50 people were still believed to be buried under the rubble.
Moscow said its forces targeted Ukrainian military units around Komyshuvakha and two other settlements, killing up to 25 Ukrainian servicemen and destroying 15 vehicles and an electronic warfare station. Russia's Defence Ministry said troops struck electricity facilities supplying power to military factories and the Ukrainian army. Russian officials said Ukraine had set fire overnight to a major oil refinery in the city of Yaroslavl.
Ukraine's largest private generating company, DTEK, said three of its five thermal power plants were knocked offline. Regional officials in Dnipro said two people were killed and about 20 wounded there, and Prime Minister Sergii Koretskyi said a train station, passenger carriages and locomotives were hit. Ukrainian officials said the attack was one of the largest of the war, disrupting power, water and transport in Kyiv and at least six other regions.
At a press conference in Berlin with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Zelenskiy appealed for additional air defenses, saying the attack showed Moscow was intent on killing people rather than building on a brief humanitarian truce around the Russian-controlled town of Oleshky, agreed with the help of US first lady Melania Trump.
The US scheduled talks in Abu Dhabi for November 10-11. Merz called them "the right step" and said Europe must be part of the process, adding: "I have not seen any sign of this so far" when asked about Russia engaging seriously. The European Commission said it would host a meeting on Ukraine on Wednesday with the US, NATO, European allies and Ukraine; NATO said it would host further consultations on Thursday.