Zaporizhzhia hit by blackout: Over 200,000 without electricity in Russian-held region; Zelenskyy thanks repair crews

More than 200,000 people were left without electricity in Russian-held parts of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region on Sunday after a Ukrainian drone strike, according to Moscow-installed local authorities.

Yevgeny Balitsky, the Russia-appointed governor of the Zaporizhzhia region, said the strike late on Saturday damaged energy infrastructure, cutting power to hundreds of thousands of consumers. In a post on Telegram, he said restoration work was under way but nearly 400 settlements remained without electricity, as reported by Reuters. The outage comes amid freezing winter temperatures across southeastern Zaporizhzhia, around 75% of which is under Russian control.

Russia has repeatedly targeted Ukraine’s energy infrastructure during the nearly four-year-long war, triggering rolling blackouts and disrupting heating systems, particularly during winter months.Separately, authorities in Russia’s North Ossetia region said a Ukrainian drone struck a residential building in the town of Beslan in the Caucasus mountains, injuring two children and one adult.

Zelenskyy says energy situation remains difficult

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy acknowledged the strain on the country’s energy system and praised repair crews working under harsh winter conditions.

In a post on X, Zelenskyy said: “I thank all our people, all repair crews working around the clock to restore the energy sector after Russian strikes. In every city, in every community, you are restoring light, heating, and water supplies in harsh weather conditions.”

He said the work was strengthening Ukraine’s internal resilience even as the situation remained challenging. “This is extremely hard work, but it is precisely this kind of effort that strengthens our country’s internal resilience and supports our positions in diplomacy,” he added.Zelenskyy said Ukraine came under heavy attack overnight, with “over 200 strike drones” launched across several regions including Sumy, Kharkiv, Dnipro, Zaporizhzhia, Khmelnytskyi and Odesa. He said dozens of people were injured, including a child, and that two people were killed.Highlighting the scale of the assaults, he said more than 1,300 attack drones, around 1,050 guided aerial bombs and 29 missiles had been launched against Ukraine in just one week, renewing calls for more air defence support from international partners.

Ukraine confirms strikes on Russian military targets

Providing its account of recent operations, Ukraine’s military said it had carried out strikes against Russian military targets in the occupied Zaporizhzhia region.In a statement on January 16, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said that their units struck an ammunition depot belonging to Russia’s 76th Guards Air Assault Division near the city of Prymorsk in the occupied Zaporizhzhia region, recording a direct hit.

The extent of the damage is still being assessed, according to state news agency United24media. The military also confirmed damage from an earlier strike on the Atlant Aero drone manufacturing facility in the Russian city of Taganrog. Ukrainian forces said the facility, which produces strike and reconnaissance drones for the Russian military, suffered damage to assembly workshops, production units and administrative buildings.“The Ukrainian Armed Forces continue to systematically implement measures aimed at weakening the offensive capabilities and military-economic potential of the Russian occupiers,” the General Staff said.