Russia fires 39 ballistic missiles and 128 drones at Ukrainian energy: 600,000 without power, dead in Kharkiv and Lutsk

Russia launched a massed combined attack on Ukraine overnight on Wednesday, October 14, with 39 ballistic missiles and 128 drones, the main targets being energy facilities in Kyiv, the Kyiv region and Kharkiv. It was one more attack on the energy sector, for which US President Donald Trump had announced an “energy truce,” and it came only hours after the strike on Kyiv’s CHPP-4 thermal power plant.

What was launched, and what was intercepted

According to the tally of the Ukrainian Air Force published by the General Staff, the missiles were of the Iskander-M, KN-23, S-400, Zircon and Oniks types and were launched from the Kursk, Bryansk, Voronezh and Rostov regions. The 128 drones were Shaheds, 77 of them jet-powered, as well as Banderol/Dan-T, Gerbera, Italmas and decoy drones.

Air defence shot down or neutralised 119 targets: 4 ballistic missiles and 115 drones, including 59 jet-powered ones. Strikes were recorded at 22 locations and falling debris at 8.

The Air Force pointed to the simultaneous use of different assets from multiple directions, and the large number of ballistic missiles used against energy, as a particular feature of the attack.

600,000 without power

President Volodymyr Zelensky said that at least 600,000 people were left without electricity and that there is serious damage at 26 points of the power system and at four oil and gas facilities. “Such demonstrative disrespect by Russia toward America has never happened,” he wrote.

He asked Trump to impose “strong” sanctions on Russia, based on the law of Senator Lindsey Graham that was recently passed and signed, as well as new packages of interceptors for the Patriot systems.

Kharkiv and Lutsk

In Kharkiv, a Russian missile hit a four-storey apartment building in the Kholodnohirskyi district. According to the State Emergency Service, four people were killed and 41 injured, and rescue work was completed on Wednesday. The UN humanitarian office has also commented on the attacks on Kharkiv and Kyiv.

In Lutsk, in northwestern Ukraine, a Russian strike on civilian facilities killed six people and injured 12, among them a child, and started a fire at a wholesale warehouse, the Emergency Service announced.

Zelensky in Britain, pressure at the front

Zelensky is in Britain, where on Wednesday he was received in audience by King Charles III and had a scheduled meeting with Prime Minister Andy Burnham on security issues. Earlier in the week he had said that decisions in support of Ukraine are expected from its partners.

The pressure continues at the front. According to the General Staff’s morning briefing, 229 clashes were recorded the previous day, while Russian forces carried out one missile and 87 air strikes, dropped 283 guided bombs and used 9,393 kamikaze drones against settlements and positions of the Ukrainian forces.