Ukraine’s state-owned energy operator Centrenergo says its entire network of thermal power plants has gone offline after a new wave of Russian strikes.

In a statement released on Saturday, the company reported that coordinated missile and drone attacks hit the same facilities that engineers had spent months repairing following earlier strikes. Ukrainian media reported that the overnight barrage involved hundreds of drones and dozens of missiles targeting energy infrastructure across several regions. Centrenergo’s portfolio includes the Trypilska, Zmiivska, and Vuhlehirska plants, all of which have faced repeated strikes since 2022, including the complete destruction of Trypilska in April 2024.

Centrenergo announced that none of its thermal units are currently producing electricity.

The company wrote on social media: "This is the most massive strike on our thermal power plants since the war began. An unprecedented number of missiles and countless drones ... at the very same thermal power plants we restored after the devastating attack of 2024 ... We have been shut down. No power generation now. Zero!"

The operator added that the output its teams had been working to restore “round the clock” has now been fully wiped out. Local reports noted widespread emergency blackouts and renewed warnings of prolonged winter outages, given the extent of the damage to thermal generation — a sector already severely weakened by last year’s large-scale attacks.

Frontline Shifts

This comes as Russia has reported a string of territorial gains across several fronts. On Friday, Moscow said its Vostok group completed the capture of Uspenovka, a fortified settlement in the Zaporozhye region.

Earlier today, the Defense Ministry announced that the same force secured the village of Volchye in the Dnepropetrovsk Region after pushing more than three kilometers into Ukrainian lines. Additional Russian military briefings claimed heavy Ukrainian losses across Kupyansk, Donetsk, and the northern axes amid intensified operations, reflecting the wider military pressures mounting alongside the renewed strikes on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.

The escalation also unfolds against the backdrop of halted diplomatic efforts. A Trump-Putin summit that had been announced for Budapest to discuss a potential cease-fire has been put on hold, with the White House stating there are no plans for an immediate meeting and Moscow signalling that negotiations remain stalled over incompatible terms, leaving the conflict with no active high-level peace track in sight.

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