Ukrainian strikes disrupt power and heating to 2 major cities in Russia

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Zelenskyy called for the sanctions against Russia as the strike which hit eastern Ukraine early Saturday killing three people and wounding 12 others.

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In this image made from video provided by Russian Defense Ministry Press Service on Friday, Nov. 7, 2025, Russian army soldiers fire to shoot a Ukrainian drone on an undisclosed location in Ukraine. (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP)Updated 9:28 AM MST, November 9, 2025

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KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian strikes disrupted power and heating to two major Russian cities near the Ukrainian border, local Russian officials reported Sunday.

The report comes as Russia and Ukraine have traded almost daily assaults on each other’s energy infrastructure and U.S.-led diplomatic efforts to stop the nearly four-year war have not advanced.

Elsewhere, Ukraine’s top diplomat accused Moscow of deliberately endangering nuclear safety, as he said Russia’s mass drone and missile attack on Friday struck substations that power two nuclear power plants.

And in Russia, the Kremlin spokesman said Moscow intended to honor its obligations under a global nuclear test ban, despite a recent order by President Vladimir Putin to study the possibility of resuming atomic tests.

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Power knocked out in two Russian cities

A drone strike temporarily caused blackouts and cut heating to parts of Voronezh, regional Gov. Alexander Gusev said. He said several drones were electronically jammed during the night over the city, home to just over 1 million people, sparking a fire at a local utility facility that was quickly extinguished.

Russian and Ukrainian news channels on Telegram claimed the strike targeted a local thermal power plant.

A missile strike late on Saturday also caused “serious damage” to power and heating systems supplying the city of Belgorod, with some 20,000 households affected, local Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov reported the following morning.

Russia’s defense ministry said Sunday that its forces destroyed or intercepted 44 Ukrainian drones during the night that flew over the Bryansk and Rostov regions in southwestern Russia. The statement made no mention of either the Voronezh or Belgorod provinces, nor did it specify how many drones Ukraine launched.

Local authorities in the Rostov region on Sunday reported on hourslong blackouts in the city of Taganrog, home to some 240,000 people, blaming them on an emergency shutdown of a power line. They did not specify the cause, though local media claimed a nearby transformer substation caught fire.

Months of Ukrainian long-range drone strikes on Russian refineries have aimed to deprive Moscow of the oil export revenue it needs to pursue the war. Meanwhile, Kyiv and its western allies say Russia is trying to cripple the Ukrainian power grid and deny civilians access to heat, light and running water for a fourth consecutive winter, in what Ukrainian officials call “weaponizing” the biting cold.

Strikes endanger power supply to nuclear plants

Russia’s mass drone and missile strikes Friday hit power substations that supply two of Ukraine’s nuclear power plants, according to Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha.

“Russia once again targeted substations that power the Khmelnytskyi and Rivne nuclear power plants,” Sybiha said in a statement on X late Saturday. “These were not accidental but well-planned strikes. Russ