Zelenskyy Says Russia Is Targeting Power Grid Before Winter as US Waives Sanctions

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Saturday that Russia is intensifying attacks on Ukraine's energy system to cut electricity and heating as winter approaches. He made the claim a day after U.S. President Donald Trump waived a package of sanctions targeting Russia's energy revenues, DW reported.

Zelenskyy argued that easing the pressure on Moscow only encourages further attacks. A Russian presidential envoy called the waiver a historic moment.

What Zelenskyy says Russia is trying to do

In a post on X, Zelenskyy said Russia had just carried out one of its biggest strikes on Ukraine's energy sector since the full-scale invasion began in February 2022. He wrote that more than 15 critical power generation and transmission facilities were targeted across different regions.

Restoration work is ongoing, he said, with all necessary services and available resources of Ukrainian energy companies involved. He said Russia had widened its campaign against the energy system and was trying to stretch Ukraine's reserves and repair capacity as thinly as possible.

“Russia is trying to cause a blackout in Ukraine — right before winter,” Zelenskyy wrote. He said Moscow wants to leave millions of people without electricity and heating, and he called on allies to pressure Russia to stop. DW reported that observers say Moscow's aim is to make the country virtually unlivable.

What Russia says it hit

The Russian Defense Ministry said its forces struck several infrastructure targets in Ukraine overnight. It named an electricity substation in the northwestern city of Zhytomyr. It also said it hit Ukraine's largest steelworks, in Kryvyi Rih, which it said supplies steel products to the Ukrainian military-industrial complex. It said another steel plant, in Zaporizhzhia near the front line, was also struck.

Ukrainian authorities said a Russian airstrike on Kherson in the south killed one person, an ambulance driver, and injured 19 others, including a child. Russian state news agency TASS reported that Ukrainian drone strikes in Russia's Belgorod region killed one woman and injured a man.

The dispute over the sanctions waiver

On Friday, Trump signed an executive order waiving sweeping U.S. sanctions and tariffs aimed at Russia's energy revenues. The measures were due to take effect two days later. The package is known as the Graham Act, after Sen. Lindsey Graham, who sponsored the bill.

Zelenskyy said a U.S. sanctions blackout and financial rewards for Putin only encourage him to keep attacking.

Kirill Dmitriev, a Russian presidential envoy, took the opposite view on social media. He called the suspension of the act an important and “historic moment.” He said the measure would have done serious damage first and foremost to the U.S. economy and global markets.

DW noted that Trump has increasingly criticized Zelenskyy, which has fueled speculation that the U.S. leader is siding with Moscow. The report did not include a response from the White House on that point.

What this means for Ukrainians as winter nears

According to Zelenskyy, the stakes are practical and immediate: heating and electricity for millions of people as temperatures drop. His warning centers on the strain on repair crews and on reserves, which he says Russia is trying to stretch thin by hitting many sites at once.

The reported damage is not confined to power plants. Strikes on a substation in Zhytomyr, the Russian claims about steelworks and the casualties in Kherson show the attacks reaching both infrastructure and populated areas, according to the accounts of both governments. The two sides' accounts of what was targeted and why differ, and DW did not independently verify either.

What happens next

Ukrainian energy companies are continuing repairs, Zelenskyy said. He has asked allies to increase pressure on Moscow, while the U.S. sanctions waiver means the package that was due to take effect will not apply for now. The reports did not say how long the suspension will last.

Around Prague, based on reporting by DW