Swarms of Russian drones plunge parts of Ukraine into darkness, as Zelensky turns to Europe again

By Tim Lister, Kosta Gak, Victoria Butenko, Nina Subkhanberdina and Max Saltman

(CNN) — As temperatures drop in Ukraine, Russia has stepped up drone attacks on power facilities supplying millions of homes across the country.

There are signs that the Russian military is repeatedly hitting the same areas to aggravate the population’s suffering. The northern regions of Chernihiv and Sumy – adjoining Russia and Belarus – have seen constant attacks over the past month.

Hundreds of thousands of people in Chernihiv were without power or water on Tuesday after more than 50 drones and missiles targeted essential facilities overnight. Two attack drones hit a heat supply facility and another energy installation, according to Vyacheslav Chaus, head of Chernihiv regional military administration.

Later Tuesday, some 20 Russian drones targeted the town of Novhorod-Siverskyi, according to Chaus, killing two men and two women.

Russia has targeted Chernihiv’s power infrastructure on 15 days over the last month, according to the regional energy company.

There was also a massive Russian attack on energy facilities in several regions, including Kyiv, on October 10.

“Russia’s tactics are to kill people and terrorize them with cold,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Tuesday.

And the Ukrainians see another new Russian tactic.

“The Russians are deliberately launching unmanned aerial vehicles that continuously circle over damaged facilities, making it impossible to carry out work safely and deliberately prolonging the humanitarian crisis,” Ukraine’s energy ministry said Tuesday.

Russia has developed a mix of drones and missiles in its attacks on energy infrastructure that sometimes overwhelm Ukraine’s air defenses. In Sumy, which borders Chernihiv, power is yet to be fully restored in the town of Shostka and surrounding area after strikes two weeks ago.

After the latest strikes, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha called on allies “to urgently mobilize additional assistance for Ukraine’s resilience: from energy equipment to energy sources and air defense capabilities.”

“There are 203 key facilities in Ukraine that we need to protect with air defense systems,” Zelensky said earlier this month, most of them to do with electricity, gas and water.

The Ukrainian government has a two-pronged response to the growing Russian onslaught: more and better air defenses and longer-range missiles to intensify Ukraine’s own attacks on critical Russian infrastructure.

Later Tuesday, Ukrainian officials said that Ukraine had targeted Russia’s Bryansk Chemical Plant – which produces gunpowder and other explosive materials – with long-range Storm Shadow missiles. Without mentioning the plant, the regional governor of Bryansk claimed on social media that Russia had “detected and destroyed 57 enemy aircraft-type UAVs” during a Ukrainian attack on Tuesday. CNN has reached out to the Russian Ministry of Defense for comment.

But Ukraine is not getting US Tomahawk cruise missiles, as had been anticipated in Kyiv and it’s still chronically short of air defenses.

“Just a few weeks ago, (Russian President Vladimir) Putin felt real pressure and the threat of Tomahawks and immediately showed a willingness to return to diplomacy,” Zelensky said Tuesday. “As soon as the pressure eased a little, the Russians began to try to jump off the diplomatic bandwagon.”

Ukrainian officials are anxious that US President Donald Trump is again souring on Kyiv ahead of a possible summit with Putin in Budapest.

A Ukrainian source described Zelensky’s meeting with Trump at the White House on Friday as tense – if constructive overall. Zelensky himself said that “after many rounds of discussion” they had agreed the starting point for any ceasefire is “where we stand on the line of contact, provided all sides understand what is meant.”

Less than a month ago, Trump mused that Ukraine could win back all the territory it had lost.

Zelensky eyes Russian assets

Not for the first time, Zelensky is now turning to Europe for back-up, and will meet European leaders on Thursday.

“Russia’s stalling tactics have shown time and time again that Ukraine is the only party serious about peace,” Zelensky and 10 of the continent’s leaders said Tuesday.

“We are developing measures to use the full value of Russia’s immobilised sovereign assets so that Ukraine has the resources it needs,” they added in a joint statement.

About $200 billion of Russian assets in Europe have been frozen, and the European Union is exploring ways to use some of them as a loan to Ukraine. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said last week he would call for the EU to provide a 140-billion euro ($163 billion) loan to Ukraine to finance its war effort.

The Kremlin has described the idea as an illegal seizure of Russian property.

Zelensky has suggested some of the frozen assets be used to fund the purchase of Patriot air defense batteries and long-range missiles. He’s aiming to procure 25 Patriot systems – but acknowledged this would take years rather than months.

Zelensky and Ukraine’s European allies are also wary of a summit in Budapest hosted by Putin’s closest ally in Europe, Viktor Orban – though the Kremlin said Tuesday that the venue and date have not been confirmed.

“I do not believe that a prime minister who blocks Ukraine everywhere can do anything positive for Ukrainians or even provide a balanced contribution,” Zelensky said Sunday.

There’s a clear pattern in Putin’s tactics, according to analyst Tatiana Stanovaya, from the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, based in Berlin.

“Whenever Trump becomes too angry or frustrated with Russia, Moscow reaches out,” Stanovaya wrote on X Tuesday.

After Putin’s conversation with Trump on the eve of Zelensky’s visit to Washington, “Trump’s tone seems to have shifted,” Stanovaya said. “He’s back to saying that Russia is winning, that Ukraine will have to give up territory, and that the US cannot afford to keep sending missiles. Russia’s position has not changed at all – it is the same as six months or even a year ago.”

Asked on Sunday how Kyiv would respond if a meeting in Budapest went badly, the Ukrainian president replied: “Even when it seems you’re cornered, it’s not as hopeless as it looks.”

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