Strikes on Kyiv overnight

Russian attacks overnight killed at least six people across Ukraine, according to regional authorities, and cut power in several Kyiv districts. On the evening of Tuesday, 13 October, a missile hit a nine-storey residential building in the Desnianskyi district and started a large fire, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said, with at least two dead and 21 injured in that building. Regional officials reported three deaths in the capital, two in Dnipropetrovsk region and one in Zaporizhzhia region. Between 4:45 and 6:45 local time on Wednesday, 14 October, more than a dozen explosions were heard in Kyiv, and Klitschko said another person was hospitalised in Darnytskyi while one more was killed in Holosiivskyi. Kyiv Independent journalists reported brief outages and flickering lights around 5:30. Authorities had not yet counted the number of power facilities hit or the damage caused.

Power cuts and a disputed energy truce

Energy operator Dtek said the attacks forced emergency outages in the Darnytskyi, Dniprovskyi, Pecherskyi and Solomianskyi districts and part of Holosiivskyi, and that crews were working to restore power to every home as quickly as possible. Strikes on energy facilities have cut power to more than 600,000. US President Donald Trump announced an 'energy ceasefire' between Russia and Ukraine on 11 October. Zelensky said he learned of it the same way as everyone else, from Trump's post on social media. Since then Ukraine has not attacked Russian oil refineries, while Russia has continued its regular strikes on energy infrastructure, according to Deutsche Welle. Media reports cited by the same outlet suggest Trump meant only a halt to strikes on refineries, not on energy facilities in general.

On Wednesday, 14 October, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said there were no specifics on the energy truce and asked what its perimeter was and whether it had been defined. He added that work on the issue was continuing. Russia's Defence Ministry, for its part, said communication and energy infrastructure in the Kyiv and Kharkiv regions used by Ukraine's military-industrial complex had been damaged, a claim that comes only from Moscow.

Ukraine accuses Washington

Ukraine accused the United States of helping Russia, saying Washington did not warn it about incoming missiles and slowed the Starlink system its forces rely on for battlefield communications. Ballistic missiles have now struck Kyiv for two nights running before air raid sirens could sound. Zelensky said the lack of notice from Western partners was 'completely unjust', and he said he had told Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney about the strike during a call. Ukrainian defence sources said SpaceX had restricted the operation of Starshield terminals without warning, and Elon Musk, who owns Starlink, had backed Trump the previous weekend.

Zelensky's adviser Sergiy Beskrestnov linked the Starlink restrictions to the attacks, arguing that the network was the most effective way to protect Ukraine against jet-powered Russian drones.

Through their actions, our partners are depriving us of one of the few chances we have to defend the country against jet-powered Shahed drones.

Zelensky said Russia had shown open contempt for the American president.

Russia has never before shown such ostentatious disrespect toward the United States.

Trump insisted Washington was still helping Ukraine, while a US official said policy had 'not changed'. The EU said there were 'no indications' that intelligence sharing had stopped.

Drones and airports in Russia

Russian air defences repelled an attack by 180 drones heading for the Moscow region overnight, according to Mayor Sergei Sobyanin as cited by TASS. Vnukovo, Domodedovo, Zhukovsky and Sheremetyevo airports suspended flights temporarily, and all four resumed operations at 6:44 Moscow time. In Saratov region, Governor Roman Busargin said one person was killed in a drone attack overnight. Governor Yuri Slyusar said a massive air attack had been repelled in Rostov region.