Russian strikes knock Ukrainian power plants offline, Khmelnytskyi nuclear plant substation threatened

Russian strikes knocked several Ukrainian power plants off the grid, damaged transmission lines and threatened a substation connected to the Khmelnytskyi nuclear power plant, Reuters reported, according to a roundup by Foreign Exchanges.

At the same time, Ukrainian attacks set off a fire at an oil refinery in Yaroslavl, Russia, and at least two people were killed near the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in occupied territory.

A theory of victory through darkness

According to an assessment by the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), Putin’s theory of victory increasingly rests on making “civilian life in Ukraine untenable.” Russian long-range strikes have killed or wounded more than 7,500 civilians in 2026, almost 50 percent more than in the whole of 2025. According to Ukrainian military intelligence, Russia produces around 10,000 drones a month and around 65 Iskander-M ballistic missiles.

Strikes on substations that power nuclear plants are particularly dangerous, because reactors need a constant power supply for cooling even when they are not operating. The International Atomic Energy Agency has repeatedly warned of the risk of Ukrainian nuclear plants losing off-site power.

The strikes come ahead of trilateral talks between the US, Ukraine and Russia in Abu Dhabi on November 10 and 11. We published a detailed analysis of the balance of forces on the front in The illusion of initiative.