Kyiv (Brussels Morning Newspaper) – Russian defence forces launched over 300 drones and 37 missiles to hit energy infrastructure across Ukraine in overnight strikes on Thursday, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said.
He said that targets in the central Vinnytsia and Poltava regions, along with areas in the northeast of Sumy and Kharkiv regions, were attacked.
“This autumn, the Russians use every single day to strike at our energy infrastructure,”
Zelenskiy stated in X.
Last night brought strikes against our people, our energy sector, and our civilian infrastructure. Russia launched more than 300 attack drones and 37 missiles, a significant number of them ballistic, against Ukraine. Infrastructure in the Vinnytsia, Sumy, and Poltava regions came… pic.twitter.com/bH3TipG4d2
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) October 16, 2025
Sergii Koretskyi, CEO of Naftogaz, the state energy company, stated that there have been six significant attacks on gas facilities this month alone. The most recent attacks affected multiple regions, causing some facilities to cease operations, he said.
“This directly impacts the volume of domestic gas production, which we are forced to cover through imports,”
Koretskyi said.
Why is Ukraine seeking liquefied natural gas from the US?
Additionally, Ukraine is negotiating with the United States to import liquefied natural gas following Russian attacks on its gas infrastructure, according to Economy Minister Oleksii Sobolev on Wednesday.
“Due to Russian attacks, we have lost part of our gas production, so we are considering mechanisms to finance the purchase of American LNG and compressor equipment,”
Sobolev said after meetings in Washington.
Last week, Ukrainian energy minister Svitlana Hrynchuk also stated that Ukraine aims to boost its gas imports by 30% after airstrikes targeted its gas infrastructure. Earlier this month, Naftogaz also said its company had purchased around 0.5 billion cubic meters of U.S. LNG, most of which had already been delivered.
How severe were the October attacks on energy systems?
Russia has repeatedly targeted Ukraine’s energy and power infrastructure over several winters, starting with electricity and progressively shifting focus to gas facilities this year as the war enters its fourth year.
In October 2025 alone, Russia launched extensive drone and missile strikes on key energy infrastructure, including power plants, substations, gas production sites, and pipelines. An unprecedented attack on October 9 involved approximately 450 drones and 30 missiles targeting energy systems, causing power outages in Kyiv and other regions and damaging around 60% of Ukraine’s gas production capacity.
