A building damaged by a Russian strike. Monitoring mission: intensifying attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure – a threat to civilians Peace and Security
Intensifying Russian attacks on Ukraine’s critical energy infrastructure are putting civilians at grave risk as winter sets in, the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in the country (HRMMU) said today in its monthly update.
Mission experts also noted an increased use of long-range weapons and a high number of civilian casualties. In November, at least 226 civilians were killed and 952 were injured across Ukraine, with more than half of all deaths and injuries linked to the Russian military’s use of powerful long-range missiles and drones in densely populated urban areas. Nighttime attacks often involved hundreds of drones and missiles.
“The Russian Federation’s renewed campaign against Ukraine’s energy infrastructure is seriously disrupting the delivery of critical services on which civilians depend,” said Danielle Bell, head of the HRMMU.
“Millions of families are now forced to live for long periods without electricity, heating or water, and these difficulties are getting worse as the days get shorter and the temperatures drop,” she added.
In November, the Russian Federation carried out five large-scale combined attacks on energy infrastructure, according to the mission. The attacks caused widespread power outages in most regions. In some areas they lasted more than 36 hours. The supply of heating and water was also disrupted in a number of places.
Similar attacks continued in December. For example, on December 4, several long-range drones hit a substation in Odessa, leaving the city without electricity for several days.
Local residents told HRMMU staff that their neighbors, including elderly people and people with disabilities, were unable to leave their apartments for several days during power outages due to the shutdown of elevators. The use of elevators remained unsafe even after power supply was restored due to power surges. Volunteers brought food and water to those who could not move. Many were forced to store food on the balconies because refrigerators did not work.
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Some buildings also did not have heating, as it may depend on electricity. In apartments where windows were broken, the temperature dropped rapidly. One resident said: “It’s 12 degrees in my apartment right now, and it’s dark because the windows are boarded up after the attack.”
After the blackouts, most regions of Ukraine have had long planned power outages, which currently last up to 16 hours a day.
A social worker in southern Ukraine told the HRMMU about the serious difficulties faced by her clients, describing in particular the situation of an 87-year-old woman: “It is now extremely difficult for her to survive, since she is completely dependent on the timing of the power cuts. When the electricity is turned on for a few hours during the day, she must make the most of this time to prepare food, eat hot food and stay warm, stock up on running water, do laundry and do household chores. For an elderly person living alone, this is not possible.”
The increase in long-range strikes by the Russian Federation is also the main reason for the increase in civilian casualties documented by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in 2025. For example, between January and November 2024, drone and long-range missile strikes killed 509 civilians and injured 2,462. During the same period in 2025, the number of civilian deaths from long-range weapons increased by 27 percent, to 645, and the number of wounded by 68 percent, to 4,123. 18 women, 12 men, four girls and four boys, and 99 people were injured, including 17 children. This is the highest number of civilian casualties recorded in a single incident since the October 2023 attack on a cafe in the village of Groza, Kharkov region, where a funeral was taking place at the time.