Key points: Russia has launched its largest wave of attacks in months on Ukraine's energy infrastructure, striking power facilities in Kyiv and other major cities as Ukraine braces for another difficult winter.

The strikes killed 7 people, and emergency blackouts have been implemented in Kyiv and three other regions.

Zelensky had previously warned that if the two sides cannot reach an energy truce, Ukraine will also make Russia "pay a painful price" this winter.

On September 30, 2026, against the backdrop of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Russian missiles and drones struck Kyiv, sending thick smoke billowing over the city. Ukrainian officials said the wave of attacks hit the city's energy infrastructure and caused blackouts, killing a total of 4 people in and around Kyiv.

Russia has launched a large-scale assault on Ukraine's power grid, striking critical power facilities in Kyiv and other major cities across the country — the largest round of military strikes targeting energy infrastructure in recent months.

Ukrainian officials and national security experts had been warning that Russia might launch airstrikes on the country's energy infrastructure before winter arrived; Ukraine's air defenses are severely lacking, and there are fears that Ukraine will endure another exceptionally harsh winter.

Ukrainian officials reported on Wednesday that the latest wave of attacks has killed 7 people.

Ukraine's national power grid operator, Ukrenergo, said in a message on Telegram that emergency blackouts were implemented in Kyiv and three other regions. Forecasts show that nighttime temperatures in the Ukrainian capital will drop below freezing in the coming days.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Serhiy Koretsky said on Wednesday on the Telegram social platform: "Russia is launching a large-scale attack on energy infrastructure."

"Since the summer, the enemy has barely stopped attacking energy facilities. But a combined strike of this scale is the first since the end of the last heating season," Koretsky said.

Russia's Defense Ministry said on Wednesday that Russian forces used land-based high-precision weapons and attack drones to carry out "large-scale strikes," with targets including a communications center in Kyiv, multiple energy system facilities across Ukraine, and port infrastructure in Izmail in southwestern Odesa Oblast.

Russia's Defense Ministry said as early as the end of August that it would bomb Ukraine's energy infrastructure in response to Ukraine's strikes on Russia's own fuel and energy facilities.

Ukrainian President Zelensky said last week in a speech at the United Nations General Assembly that if the two sides cannot reach an energy truce, Ukraine will make Russia feel the same deep suffering of winter.

Zelensky said on September 23: "Ukrainians know that this winter our situation will be very difficult. But in response, we have no choice but to make Russia bear the same pain."

U.S. President Trump had previously said that the two sides agreed last month to stop attacking energy facilities. But Russia and Ukraine quickly clarified afterward that no formal agreement had been signed.

Trump had also previously called on Zelensky to stop attacking Russian oil refineries, saying such attacks disrupt fuel supplies and drive up oil prices, "and are hurting the whole world."