Drone strike disrupts electricity in Zaporizhzhia region

Firefighters work at the site of a Russian missile strike, in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, 18 Aug., 2025.
Reuters

A Ukrainian drone strike late Tuesday cut power to areas of Russia-held Zaporizhzhia region, officials said, during ongoing attacks in southeastern Ukraine.

"The reason for the power cuts in Zaporizhzhia region is yet another enemy terrorist drone attack on high-voltage equipment," Moscow-appointed Governor Yevgeny Balitsky wrote on the Telegram messaging app.

Repair crews were restoring electricity using reserve lines, but their work was hampered by the risk of additional strikes and darkness.

Ukraine controls the region's main administrative center, and its drones and artillery have periodically disrupted power in Russian-held areas. In June, similar attacks left at least 700,000 residents without electricity for more than 24 hours.

The Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, Europe's largest, was unaffected by the outage, with operations running normally.

The facility, seized by Russian forces in early 2022, relies on electricity for cooling and monitoring systems, though it does not feed power into the grid.

Tags