(CNN) — Millions of Ukrainians are enduring cold temperatures and darkness after a wave of Russian attacks against energy facilities caused widespread power outages across the country.

Ukrainian authorities have warned that the large scale of the damage means it will take time to restore energy flows. Electricity supplies across the country are being rationed – with people in the capital Kyiv set to be without power for 10-12 hours on Sunday, according to schedules published by energy companies.

Svitlana Grynchuk, Ukraine’s energy minister, said the attack on Saturday was “one of the largest direct ballistic attacks on energy facilities” since the start of the war.

She said that emergency power cuts were implemented across almost all regions to stabilise the network. “We then switched to hourly power cuts, so that consumers could more easily plan their activities around the outages,” Grynchuk said.

The attack over the weekend came just as temperatures in Ukraine began to drop to single digits degrees Celsius. Russia has targeted Ukraine’s energy infrastructure on numerous occasions since it launched its full-scale invasion in 2022, usually stepping up attacks around this time of the year.

These frequent disruptions have forced Ukrainians to adapt – diesel generators have become a common sight across the country and people have become accustomed to scheduling their lives around planned outages.

Many families are now scheduling cooking and homework time around the power schedules, and elderly people not leaving their homes in fear of getting stuck without an access to the lift.

Russia strikes when people are asleep

Nine Ukrainian regions came under attack overnight into Saturday, according to President Volodymyr Zelensky.

At least 15 civilians have been killed by Russian strikes over the weekend, according to Ukrainian local authorities.

Three people were killed and 12 injured when a Russian drone struck a nine-story apartment building in the central Ukrainian city of Dnipro. Video captured the moment the drone struck in the darkness.

“There’s nothing here, just ordinary buildings,” said a woman who gave her name as Maia.

“I don’t know how I survived, because all the shrapnel flew onto the bed where I was sleeping,” said Larysa, another resident of the building.

“We gathered quickly and started to go downstairs. People were screaming. You could already hear screams from the street,” she added.

Of the 45 missiles fired by Russia overnight Saturday, some of which were ballistic weapons, the Ukrainian air force said only nine had been intercepted. Some 450 drones were also launched.

“26 missiles and 52 strike UAVs (drones) have been recorded hitting 25 locations,” it said, with many of the attacks occurring in the central regions of Poltava and Dnipropetrovsk as well as Kyiv.

“It is extremely difficult to counter ballistic and aero-ballistic missiles,” Zelensky said in his daily address later Saturday. “Only a few systems in the world are capable of intercepting such missiles effectively – and to protect our entire territory, we need far more of these systems and far more of the missiles for them.”

The Ukrainian president said Kyiv was working with the US to purchase additional Patriot air defense systems, which have proved capable in intercepting Russian missiles.

Ukraine has requested more help from allies to replenish its air defenses, as well as longer-range missiles to attack Russian energy and military facilities. Its request for US Tomahawk missiles was turned down by President Donald Trump last month.

Russia’s defense ministry said the strikes had come in response to Ukrainian attacks, and had included Kinzhal ballistic missiles and other weapons in strikes against “enterprises of the Ukrainian military-industrial complex and gas and energy facilities of Ukraine that supported their operations.”

The frequent attacks on energy have seriously damaged Ukrainian gas production. Ukrainian officials have said they’ll have to turn to expensive imports of European gas to make up the shortfall.

“Despite the enemy’s plans, Ukraine will have light and heat this winter,” said energy minister Grynchuk.

The Ukrainian military and security services have also stepped up drone and missile attacks against Russian refineries and other infrastructure such as pipelines and pumping stations in recent months.

On Saturday, Ukrainian drones carried out what one Russian official described as a “massive attack” on energy facilities in the Volgograd region, a frequent target of Ukraine.

A substation was hit, according to Andrey Bocharov, the regional governor, who said power was restored several hours after the strike.

The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2025 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.