ISTANBUL

Russia and Ukraine on Thursday traded accusations regarding overnight airstrikes on each other's Ukrainian energy infrastructure.

Volgograd Governor Andrey Bocharov said the Russian Defense Ministry repelled a “massive” drone attack by Ukraine on energy infrastructure in the southern region.

Bocharov said debris from a downed drone caused a fire at the Balashovskaya substation in the region’s Novonikolayevsky district.

“Firefighters are quickly extinguishing it. Repair crews are restoring power to the surrounding communities. There was no damage to residential buildings or injuries,” Bocharov added.

Voronezh Governor Aleksandr Gusev said several villages in his region also remained without power following a drone attack in a “neighboring region,” without further specification.

The Defense Ministry claimed it downed 51 Ukrainian drones overnight, 11 of which were shot down over the Volgograd region.

Meanwhile, Ukraine's national oil and gas company Naftogaz said on Telegram that Russia carried out a large-scale strike on its facilities, reporting damage in several regions with the operation of some “critical” facilities being temporarily halted.

“Such attacks directly affect the volumes of its own gas production, which the company is forced to partially compensate for through imports,” the statement said.

Ukraine’s power grid operator Ukrenergo announced that emergency power outages were implemented in multiple regions “due to the difficult situation in the energy system,” including in the capital Kyiv.

Ukrainian private energy provider DTEK also declared that the operation of a gas production facility in the Poltava region was halted.

“This autumn, the Russians use every single day to strike at our energy infrastructure,” President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on the US social media company X.

He reaffirmed his call for further military and economic pressure on Russia, saying “strong” decisions are possible in this regard which depend on all of Ukraine’s partners “whose strength directly determines whether the war will be ended.”

“Now there is an important momentum toward peace in the Middle East. In Europe, this is also possible. That is exactly what I will be discussing today and tomorrow in Washington,” Zelenskyy added, referring to his upcoming meeting with US President Donald Trump in Washington, DC on Friday.

Ukraine’s Air Force separately claimed that air defenses shot down 283 of 320 drones, as well as five of 37 various types of missiles launched by Russia overnight.

Separately, Ukraine's General Staff claimed it struck the Saratov Oil Refinery in an overnight attack, though Russian authorities did not immediately comment on the claim.