Cars move along a dark street during a power blackout after critical civil infrastructure was hit by today's Russian drone strikes, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine January 7, 2026. REUTERS/Stringer
KYIV, Jan 8 (Reuters) - Ukrainian officials raced to restore power on Thursday after Russian drone attacks plunged two southeastern regions into near-total blackout overnight, strikes that President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said were aimed at "breaking" his country.
Zelenskiy said Russia was intent on using wintry weather as a weapon rather than allowing U.S.-led diplomacy to work towards a resolution of nearly four years of conflict.
A Russian missile attack on Thursday targeted apartment buildings in Kryvyi Rih, Zelenskiy's home town in Dnipropetrovsk region, killing one person and injuring 24, including six children, the head of the local military administration, Oleksandr Vilkul, said.
In a rare instance of simultaneous warnings, the Ukrainian president and the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv said a new mass Russian strike was possible.
Moscow has intensified its attacks on Ukraine's energy system as Ukrainian forces fend off Russian advances on the battlefield and Kyiv faces U.S. pressure to quickly secure a peace deal.
POWER RESTORED TO NEARLY 700,000 HOUSEHOLDS
Private energy provider DTEK said power had been restored to nearly 700,000 households by Thursday evening after the overnight attack.
But it said 194,000 households remained without electricity, including in Kryvyi Rih.
The head of the city's military administration, Oleksandr Vilkul, said Kryvyi Rih had been subjected to one of the heaviest combined attacks of drones and missiles since Moscow sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022.
Twenty-nine apartment buildings were damaged and more than 70,000 remained without power. The water supply was operating, though with reduced pressure.
Deputy Prime Minister Oleksiy Kuleba had earlier said more than 1.7 million households in Ukraine faced water supply problems.
In Dnipro, the region's main town, Mayor Borys Filatov said water supply was back to normal and power and heating would soon be fully restored.
In Zaporizhzhia region, the Energy Ministry said power had been restored after a blackout forced infrastructure to rely on reserves.
"This is Russia's war specifically against our people, against life in Ukraine - an attempt to break Ukraine," Zelenskiy wrote on X after a European tour aimed at rallying support for Kyiv.
Zelenskiy, speaking separately in his nightly video address, said, "There is information there could be a new, massive Russian strike this evening" and warned residents to heed alerts.
The U.S. Embassy said it had also received information "concerning a potentially significant air attack that may occur at any time over the next several days".
In Dnipro, generators hummed outside storefronts downtown, where residents told Reuters they were used to disruptions.
"This is not the first blackout, and I suspect that it will not be the last, so we are working - we are prepared," said a barista who introduced herself as Iryna.
In his address, Zelenskiy said Russia was "placing greater emphasis on winter than on diplomacy, on ballistics against our energy sector rather than on working with America and reaching agreements with President Trump.
"This needs to change, and it needs to change through pressure on Russia and support for Ukraine."
In Kryvyi Rih, key steel maker ArcelorMittal said it had temporarily suspended some production and Zaporizhstal, another major producer, also reported a suspension.
Odesa Regional Governor Oleh Kiper said Russian drones had hit port facilities around the city and damaged an empty oil storage tank.
(Additional reporting by Mykhailo Moskalenko in DniproEditing by Philippa Fletcher, Gareth Jones, Ron Popeski, Frances Kerry and Cynthia Osterman)
