Russian strikes leave 600,000 without power in Kyiv, testing Trump's energy truce

Kyiv power cut after evening strike

Russian forces fired ballistic missiles at Kyiv on the evening of 13 October, killing two people in an apartment block and injuring 21, four of them in critical condition, according to Mayor Vitali Klitschko. Klitschko reported power cuts across the capital and urged residents to stay in shelters. Ukraine's largest private energy company, DTEK, announced emergency outages in several Kyiv districts and part of Holosiivskyi. Zelensky said the main target was the CHPP-4 thermal power station and wrote on X that it had been hit.

Russian ballistic missile attack on Kyiv. Once again, no warning from our partners. The main target was an energy facility, the CHPP-4 station. Unfortunately, it was hit.

He added that Ukraine's systems had detected the missiles only once they were already approaching Kyiv.

Overnight barrage and interceptions

Overnight into 14 October, Russia launched 39 ballistic missiles and more than 120 drones at energy facilities and critical infrastructure, according to Zelensky, who called the strike deliberate and demonstrative in its scale. Ukraine reported shooting down only four of the 39 missiles. Russia's defence ministry said its forces struck four power generation stations in and around Kyiv and two in Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city. Prime Minister Sergei Koretsky said state railway facilities were hit in five regions. Ukrainian authorities put the nationwide overnight death toll at at least six, including three people in Kyiv, two in Dnipropetrovsk region and one in Zaporizhzhia region.

Starlink disruption at the front

Ukrainian officials told the Financial Times that some services on SpaceX's Starlink satellite internet appeared to have been restricted, affecting troops who use it to control drones. Terminals used by Ukrainian drone units lost signal at speeds above 160 km/h, disrupting several missions in the early hours of 14 October. One senior official said the restrictions came overnight, without warning. Logistics at the front and strikes at intermediate ranges were severely limited, the official said. Sergiy Beskrestnov, an adviser to Ukraine's defence ministry, said on Telegram that the move was not accidental and was linked to the current political situation, adding that long-range drone operations were also affected.

Trump's truce and Western intelligence

Trump said both sides had agreed to halt strikes on energy infrastructure, but neither Moscow nor Kyiv confirmed the deal. Since the week of 5 October, he has pressed Ukraine to stop attacking Russian oil refineries and has threatened to cut off the exchange of critical intelligence. In the same week he lifted sanctions on Russian diesel to try to lower fuel prices, and he attributes the rise in fuel costs, diesel in particular, to Ukrainian strikes on Russian refineries. Diesel prices have reached record levels since the US war against Iran disrupted global oil supply. Ukraine depends heavily on American and other Western intelligence to spot incoming Russian strikes and pick targets for its own operations, and Zelensky's repeated clashes with Trump have raised doubts about that support.

Reactions and next steps

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, speaking in Estonia, said allies must do more while Russian aggression continues, particularly to support air defence as winter approaches. Zelensky is expected to travel to London for talks with UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham. In Russia, Saratov region governor Roman Busargin said a Ukrainian drone attack on Balakovo had killed one person and damaged several homes. Busargin reported the attack on Telegram.