Russia Escalates Power Grid Attacks as Zelenskyy Seeks EU Funds and Starlink Access Remains Limited

The strikes hit three major power plants in the Kyiv region on Tuesday night—Combined Heat and Power Plants 4 and 5 and the Trypillya Thermal Power Plant—as well as a major electrical substation that transfers electricity from two of Ukraine’s main nuclear power plants to the capital, The Guardian reported. Those facilities and other substations forming the 'Kyiv energy ring' have been targets of a Russian barrage that, if successful, could threaten a humanitarian catastrophe in a city of 3 million people.

The Guardian reported that it had seen a Russian assessment, which Ukrainian intelligence said it intercepted last month, that outlined goals ranging from 'degrading the quality of life' of Ukrainians through power outages to fully shutting off the water supply. The document, titled Analysis of Ukraine’s Energy, Housing and Utilities Sectors, predicted that cutting water would cause the 'deterioration of sanitary conditions and the forced outflow of residents from cities,' and included vulnerable Ukrainian energy grid targets and possible strikes on high-risk sites, including switchyards at several nuclear power plants. European officials familiar with the document said it was likely to have been produced by analytical departments linked to Russian military or intelligence agencies, and copies had circulated in Ukraine in previous years.

Ukraine’s energy minister, Denys Shmyhal, first briefed European allies last month about the plan, a copy of which was first reported by the New York Times, according to The Guardian. He said there were 'two large documents, written very coldly and very clearly, with tables showing the number of weapons needed for each facility to destroy it.' He said the weapons ranged from ballistic missiles to jet-powered and conventional drones: 'We understand how they are going to act.'

The leaked documents identify bottlenecks and prescribe the number of ballistic and hypersonic cruise missiles and jet-powered drones needed to knock out power plants and substations, the report said. If carried out, the plan could destroy more than 90% of the power Kyiv is budgeted for each winter, plunging the city into dark and cold, according to the document. Expert projections cited in the report said a worst-case scenario could lead to blackouts lasting up to 20 hours a day until damaged equipment is repaired.

Economic Pravda, a leading Ukrainian news site that covers business, reported on Thursday that the three major power plants in Kyiv no longer have the ability to generate electricity, leaving the city more reliant on electricity brought from elsewhere in the country. The government generally does not confirm specific damage to critical infrastructure, The Guardian noted. The outlet’s experts predicted that, with a moderate winter and quick repairs to damaged substations, Kyiv residents could face up to eight hours of blackouts a day; with frigid temperatures and frequent attacks, the worst case would leave Kyiv in the dark for up to 20 hours a day.

Zelenskyy this week criticized city authorities for poor planning for the winter and for failing to protect the city’s energy infrastructure, according to the report. Protests over heat and electricity blackouts are planned for Saturday. The strikes on Ukraine’s energy system have become the country’s new frontlines, and Ukraine is badly outgunned as its stocks of US-provided PAC-3 missiles have dwindled.

In Brussels on Friday, Zelenskyy met European leaders and asked the EU for another €70bn next year to fund Ukraine’s defence against Russia. He was applauded by the heads of state and government of the bloc’s 27 countries, and later said he heard 'only support' when asked about reports that European leaders had asked him to dial down his criticism of Trump.

Hours earlier, Trump called Ukraine’s renewed strikes on Russian oil refineries 'a disgrace' and criticized Zelenskyy after a purported 'energy ceasefire' between Russia and Ukraine failed to take hold. 'All he’s doing is making the world oil price higher,' Trump told the Newsmax television channel. 'Well, I think that’s a disgrace.' Energy analysts told the BBC that the US-Israeli war on Iran was having the biggest impact on diesel export volumes, although the Ukraine war was also significant.

Trump’s administration is suspected of withholding intelligence from Ukraine on incoming Russian ballistic missile strikes and of throttling Starshield, the military version of the Starlink satellite internet network, to prevent it from being used on drones flying above 100mph, according to the report. Neither has been officially confirmed.

Zelenskyy said after the Brussels meeting that Starshield had not yet returned to normal. 'Our defence ministry is in touch and my partners, they told me that there were signals from the White House that they would return these capabilities,' he said. 'Have they returned to the previous speed limits? No. But is it coming back now? Yes.' Reuters reported on Friday that the order to throttle Starshield had come from inside the White House, according to two US officials and a western official briefed on the matter. They did not identify the White House official who made the decision, but said the Pentagon had been informed that the SpaceX Starshield service for the Ukrainian military had to be slowed. Zelenskyy called it a 'very dangerous and unpleasant surprise' that speeds had been reduced on Starlink, which Ukraine uses to support its most effective air defence systems against Russian jet-powered drones. Starlink is produced by Elon Musk’s SpaceX but controlled by the US government.

According to a transcript of his remarks, Zelenskyy told EU leaders that the war would cost €155bn in 2027. 'And we need at least €70bn more from you – for defence, for weapons, and for our resilience,' he said. 'This is a realistic amount.' The EU is currently giving Ukraine regular payments from a €90bn funding plan agreed last December that was intended to cover two-thirds of Kyiv’s civilian and military needs for 2026-27. The remaining third was to be filled by other international partners, such as the UK, Canada, Norway and Japan.

The risk of another financial crunch has put Russia’s €210bn assets frozen inside the EU back on the table. The EU takes profits from those assets to support Ukraine, but last year decided against using the funds themselves, instead opting for an EU-backed €90bn loan. Belgium, which hosts the vast majority of the Russian funds, remains strongly opposed to using the frozen assets, fearing it will be left to carry the financial burden if the plan goes wrong. Zelenskyy said there could be an alternative: 'We need something like a special EU-controlled custodian to reduce the risk of them being unfrozen and divided up among those who clearly do not want what is best for Europe or an end to this war.' The European Commission, a strong backer of last year’s rejected frozen assets plan, has been reluctant to propose new variants such as an EU-controlled custodian because it fears running into the same opposition from Belgium and other sceptical member states.

Before the summit, Belgium’s prime minister, Bart De Wever, said Zelenskyy would 'probably look everybody straight in the eye and say: thank you for the €90bn, but that money is going to run out because a war is a very costly thing.' European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said the EU had supported Trump’s energy ceasefire, 'but we have seen that Russia did not respect it, not a single minute' and instead had escalated its attacks. She said the EU intended to increase pressure on Russia, promising a 22nd round of sanctions: 'We will not lift any sanctions unless Russia stops the war.'

Editor's Summary Russia has continued large-scale strikes on Ukraine’s power grid despite a purported energy ceasefire, hitting Kyiv-region plants and substations and raising the prospect of long blackouts. Zelenskyy used an EU summit in Brussels to request €70bn more for next year and said military access to Starlink’s Starshield had not fully returned, while Reuters reported the throttling order came from inside the White House. The EU promised further sanctions, but funding plans and the use of frozen Russian assets remain contested.