Translated automatically by AI from the Italian original.
KYIV / MOSCOW – A night of heavy military escalation on the Eastern European front. A major Russian airstrike targeted and severely damaged energy infrastructure in four Ukrainian regions, leaving hundreds of thousands without power. At the same time, Kyiv’s forces responded with a massive drone attack deep inside Russian territory, hitting and setting fire to one of the Federation’s most important oil complexes.
Power raids in Ukraine: 650 towns left in the dark
According to Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky, the Russian offensive struck substations, transformers and high-voltage lines in the regions of Dnipro, Vinnytsia, Zhytomyr and Khmelnytskyi. In the Zhytomyr and Kyiv areas alone, more than 650 towns have been left without electricity.
Ukrainian air defences said they had neutralised 371 of the 433 drones launched by the Russians overnight (including 64 jet-powered Shahed drones). Nevertheless, direct hits were recorded in 16 different locations.
“In the past week Russia has launched 1,940 attack drones, more than 1,580 guided bombs and 44 missiles. The Russians are trying to exploit our shortage of ballistic interceptors to destroy infrastructure before winter. US and European partners must implement the Patriot system decisions immediately, without waiting for years.”
— Volodymyr Zelensky, President of Ukraine
To address the air-defence emergency, Zelensky has also proposed that Western partners temporarily lend 10–30 interceptor missiles from their stocks, with a commitment to return them as soon as the shipment of 500 US-made PAC-3 missiles arrives.
Ukrainian attack on Lukoil refinery at Kstovo
Kyiv’s counter-move was swift: an attack with more than 100 drones struck the Nizhny Novgorod region, about 400 kilometres east of Moscow. The Ukrainian drones precisely hit the Lukoil-Nizhegorodnefteorgsintez plant in Kstovo, one of Russia’s largest refineries with an annual processing capacity of 17 million tonnes of oil, triggering a large fire.
Kremlin: “Dialogue with EU impossible”. Moscow terror alert
On the diplomatic and political front, positions remain entirely opposed:
- Kremlin rebuffs Brussels: Vladimir Putin’s spokesman, Dmitri Peskov, ruled out any possibility of dialogue with the European Union, accusing Brussels institutions of seeking only Russia’s “strategic defeat”. Adviser Yuri Ushakov stressed that any peace talks must be limited to a trilateral table involving Russia, Ukraine and the United States.
- Moscow terror alert: Maximum tension in the Russian capital after the US embassy issued an emergency warning of a “credible imminent terrorist attack”. The alert triggered the immediate closure and evacuation of the Tsaritsyno museum complex, which was quickly cordoned off by FSB special forces and dog units.
