Ukraine war latest: Russia launches 'one of the largest' attacks on Ukraine's energy infrastructure since start of war
Key developments on Nov. 8-9:
- Kyiv faces over 12 hours of emergency power cuts following 'one of the largest' Russian attacks on Ukraine's energy infrastructure
- Russia's Lavrov says he is ready to meet Rubio in person to discuss war in Ukraine
- Ukraine slaps new sanctions on Putin's team and propagandist publishers
- Russian Ka-226 helicopter crashes in Dagestan, killing weapons plant employees
- 'The threat was constant' — Russian drone flew over Angelina Jolie during her Ukraine trip
Kyiv faces over 12 hours of emergency power cuts following 'one of the largest' Russian attacks on Ukraine's energy infrastructure
Kyiv and Kyiv Oblast faced emergency power outages after a new large-scale Russian attack overnight on Nov. 8, which targeted Ukraine's energy and gas infrastructure.
Ukrainian forces downed 406 out of the 458 drones, including Shahed-type attack drones, launched by Russia overnight, the Air Force reported. Russia also launched 45 cruise and ballistic missiles, nine of which were downed, the statement said.
The cities of Kremenchuk in Poltava Oblast, Kyiv, Dnipro, Kharkiv, and Chernihiv were the primary targets of Russian attacks. Explosions were also heard in the city of Sumy, as well as in Odesa Oblast.
"Very brazen, in many ways the strike is demonstrative," President Volodymyr Zelensky said, adding that Ukraine is working with the U.S. to buy additional Patriot air defense systems.
Emergency power cuts were introduced in several Ukrainian regions due to the attack, according to Ukraine's state grid operator Ukrenergo.
Ukraine's largest private energy company, DTEK, reported on Nov. 8 that one of its thermal power plants had been "seriously damaged" by a Russian attack. According to the company, Russia has attacked DTEK power plants over 210 times since the start of the full-scale invasion.
In Kyiv, outages varied by location, with some areas expected to remain without electricity for up to eight hours.
Energy Minister Svitlana Hrynchuk said that the consequences of the attacks are being determined and normal outages (up to four hours a day) will be restored "once the situation in the energy system stabilizes."
By the evening on Nov. 8, Hrynchuk claimed on national TV that the energy situation had been somewhat stabilized, giving consumer the ability to "plan their actions in connection with power outages." Specific details on emergency crews' ability to restore parts of the power grid were not immediately available.
Hrynchuk called the attack "one of the largest direct ballistic missile attacks on energy facilities" since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022.
"It's hard to remember such a number of ballistic missiles that directly attacked energy facilities," she added.
In Kyiv, explosions were heard just before 4:30 a.m. local time, according to a Kyiv Independent journalist on the ground. Officials reported that air defense were at work in the city amid a wider Russian drone attack on the capital.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko later reported that a fire has been reported in the Pechersky district amid falling drone debris stemming from the attack. The fire was later extinguished, the mayor added.
No casualties in the capital were reported.
The attack on Kyiv comes amid a wider attack on cities closer to Ukraine's front line regions. Air raid alerts throughout the night warned of Russian ballistic missile attacks, targeting Ukraine's central, southern, and eastern regions.
Ukraine's State Emergency Service reported energy infrastructure was struck in Odesa Oblast amid the ballistic missile attack.
Throughout the fall, Russia has intensified attacks on Ukrainian energy infrastructure as it attempts to plunge the country into yet another harsh winter. The worst strikes on Oct. 3 and 5 wiped out around 60% of Ukraine’s gas production sites.
Russia's Lavrov says he is ready to meet Rubio in person to discuss war in Ukraine
Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov says he is ready to meet U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio in person to discuss the war in Ukraine — which he called the "Ukraine issue" — but reiterated a hardline stance on Russian interests that must be addressed for Moscow to end its war.
"We, together with Secretary of State Marco Rubio, understand the need for regular communication — it is important for discussing the Ukraine issue and for advancing the bilateral agenda," Lavrov told Russian state media RIA Novosti in an interview published Nov. 9.
"Therefore, we talk on the phone and are ready to hold in-person meetings whenever necessary," Lavrov said.
Various media outlets recently reported that Washington had cancelled a planned summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and Putin after Lavrov’s ministry signaled it would not soften its demands over Ukraine.
Lavrov last spoke with Rubio by phone on Oct. 21 to discuss terms for the summit, set to take place in Budapest, after which Rubio reportedly recommended that the U.S. president cancel the planned meeting.
Sources familiar with the talks told Reuters the cancellation stemmed from the Kremlin's rigid negotiating stance, which demanded excessive concessions and refused to accept a ceasefire in Ukraine.
Other reports have said Lavrov's influence in the Kremlin had waned after a conversation with Rubio reportedly led to the cancellation of the planned summit. The Kremlin has denied the speculations, but the top official was notably absent from a key meeting chaired by Putin on Nov. 5.
In his interview with RIA Novosti, Lavrov reiterated Russia’s long-standing demands, particularly that the war's "root causes" be addressed — a sign that Moscow has little interest in softening its position — while also echoing familiar Kremlin talking points about Crimea, which Russia has occupied since 2014.
"Let me reiterate that, in our view, ending the conflict is impossible without taking Russian interests into account and eradicating its root causes," he said.
Russian leaders, including Putin and Lavrov, have made the vague notion of the war’s "root causes" — which they blame on an aggressive West — a central justification for the war in Ukraine and refusal to agree to a ceasefire.
"As for Crimea and Sevastopol, the residents of the peninsula exercised their right to self-determination in a referendum back in March 2014, voting in favor of reunification with Russia," Lavrov also said, adding that the "issue of the peninsula's sovereignty is settled."
Russia moved to invade and annex Crimea in 2014 in the wake of Ukraine's EuroMaidan Revolution, pushing through a referendum for the peninsula's breakaway from Ukraine. Numerous international reports showed that the referendum's results were falsified.
Ukraine slaps new sanctions on Putin's team and propagandist publishers
Ukraine imposed new sanctions on eight senior Kremlin officials, including special envoy Kirill Dmitriev, as well as five Russian publishing houses for crimes against Ukraine and Ukrainians, Zelensky’s office announced on Nov. 9.
"We will be reaching out to Amazon and other sellers so that they stop selling the literature" of the publishers, Ukraine’s sanctions chief, Vladyslav Vlasiuk, told the Kyiv Independent.
In addition to Dmitriev, Putin's special envoy for investment and economic cooperation, the list of individuals sanctioned includes Russia’s Agriculture Minister Oksana Lut, Russian Security Service agent Aleksey Komkov, and Oleksandr Tupytskyi, the former chairman of Ukraine’s Constitutional Court.
Tupytskyi escaped Ukraine at the start of the war and was put on the wanted list, but is hiding in Vienna. He has been under U.S. sanctions since 2021.
Kyiv-born Dmitriev has been a key figure in the Kremlin's outreach to the Trump administration, having visited the U.S. last month for talks with American officials. He previously participated in high-level talks in Alaska in August.
These individuals "appropriated agricultural property, grain crops, and cultural heritage sites, conducted information operations against our state, and introduced Russian educational standards with anti-Ukrainian narratives in the occupied territories of Ukraine," the President’s Office wrote in a press statement.
The second decree includes Russian publishing houses Book World, Veche, Tsentrpoligraf, Yauza, and Piter. The publishers are responsible for spreading Russian propaganda globally and promoting anti-Ukrainian sentiment and violence in the Russian-occupied territories, the President's Office wrote.
The sanctions were largely in response to recent Russian sanctions on Ukrainian officials, particularly Ukraine’s Prime Minister Yulia Svrydenko, he added. Moscow also sanctioned Finance Minister Serhiy Marchenko, Advisor to the Defense Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov, and Economy Minister Oleksiy Sobolev on Nov. 1.
"Russia is trying to prolong the war, expanding its efforts to justify aggression and normalize the occupation of Ukrainian territories," Zelensky said.
"Russia has also recently made a demonstrative political decision to impose sanctions against Ukrainian officials, in particular against the prime minister of Ukraine. Such behavior by Russia deserves far greater global pressure and a broader scope of that pressure," he added.
Russian Ka-226 helicopter crashes in Dagestan, killing weapons plant employees
A Russian Ka-226 helicopter crashed in the Republic of Dagestan on Nov. 7, killing five people, including four employees of the Kizlyar Electromechanical Plant (KEMZ), the company reported on Nov. 8.
The helicopter crashed near the village of Achi-Su in Russia's Republic of Dagestan, located along the Caspian Sea. Russian state media originally reported that the aircraft was carrying tourists.
KEMZ, a Russian defense company specializing in aviation equipment, published the names of those killed in the crash on Nov. 8. Four KEMZ employees were among the casualties, including the plant's deputy general director of construction and transport support.
The Ka-226 flight mechanic also died in the crash. Two others were injured.
KEMZ has been sanctioned by the United States for its involvement in Russia's war against Ukraine. The plant develops and produces ground control, diagnostics systems, and other equipment, primarily for Sukhoi and MiG aircraft — planes that drop missiles and bombs on Ukrainian cities.
The cause of the crash remains unclear. Russia's federal aviation agency, Rosaviatsia, classified the crash as a "disaster" and said it would participate in an official investigation.
The Ka-226 is a twin-engine Russian utility helicopter capable of carrying up to seven passengers. In July 2024, Ukraine's military intelligence agency (HUR) reported that a Ka-226 was among several helicopters damaged in a sabotage operation.
'The threat was constant' — Russian drone flew over Angelina Jolie during her Ukraine trip
Hollywood star Angelina Jolie described how she was forced to wait while a drone flew over her during her recent trip to Mykolaiv and Kherson oblasts, where she met families living on the front line of Russia's war.
"The threat of drones was a constant, heavy presence. You hear a low hum in the sky," she wrote on Instagram on Nov. 9.
"There was a moment when we had to pause and wait while a drone flew overhead. I was in protective gear, and for me, it was just a couple of days. The families here live with this every single day."
The actress previously visited Ukraine in the spring of 2022, where she met internally displaced people in Lviv.
Jolie traveled with the U.K.-based Legacy of War Foundation to embattled southern Ukraine on Nov. 5. The city of Kherson is just over the river from Russian positions and comes under frequent and heavy shelling, with Russian troops frequently targeting and killing civilians.
The actress wrote how Russian troops "track, hunt, and terrorize" locals constantly in a "human safari." During her visit, she noted how schools, clinics, and daycares were forced to operate underground, and she spoke to locals about the psychological impact of living under constant threats, as well as their fears about being forgotten by the world.
She called on governments to end the conflict and to protect civilians, both in Ukraine and also in Sudan, Gaza, Yemen, and the Democratic Republic of Congo, while highlighting the work of several Ukrainian humanitarian organizations helping children, including Ukrainian Gen, Fight for Right, Help Ukraine, and Marsh Zhinok.
"If they can find the strength, governments ought to be able to do the same," she wrote.
Reports initially circulated that a Ukrainian man in Jolie’s entourage was detained by military enlistment officers and that Jolie visited the recruitment office with the man.
Local media later confirmed that the man, a reserve officer, lacked a valid medical commission certificate and was redirected to another location to settle the issue.
