Robert Brovdi, commander of UAV teams in the Ukrainian Armed Forces, is known not only for his military achievements, but also for his courage. On November 1, Brovdi, on his social networks, sarcastically warned Russians that they were preparing to live in the dark: “Power outages are not scary. They are just a little uncomfortable … Los Birds Unmanned aircraft systems forces, along with other long-range Ukrainian capabilities, promise the Russians a rapid, if somewhat forced, adaptation.
Ukrainian cities are suffering another year of widespread power outages due to Russian attacks on their power grid. Blackouts are diary and last between four and eight hours. There are even worse days: On Saturday, with a Russian bomber carrying 25 ballistic missiles and more than 450 drones, Kiev was without power for more than 12 hours. Centernergo Company, one of the leading electricity generation companies in Ukraine, confirmed that the activity of its thermal stations has completely stopped.
Residents are accustomed to the darkness, but in the cold months the inconvenience persists: if the power outage is particularly prolonged, the water pump stops, as does the heating system or mobile phone coverage, because the antennas that amplify the signal can no longer work.
“If we want to leave without lighting, we must understand that we will do the same,” Volodymyr Zelensky said on October 8. Last November, Ukrainian President Provdei said that Moscow should be everywhere “the place where Russians feel the consequences of this war.” Zelensky’s comments came one day after the attack on the electrical system in Russia’s Belgorod province, disrupting electricity supplies and internet connectivity for 40,000 homes.
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Belgorod is a Russian region bordering Ukraine. Russian provinces closest to the battlefield, such as Belgorod, were hardest hit by Ukrainian retaliation, even without suffering the widespread power outages that plagued the invaded country. Ukrainian drones destroyed an electricity substation in the western province of Kursk in the early hours of the last second day. That night, a thermal plant in the city of Oryol, 170 kilometers from the border, was also damaged, Provdi said in a statement. In all, by his account, five electrical substations were destroyed that morning.
The same thing happened the next morning. Russian regional authorities confirmed that there was a power outage in thousands of homes in the Kursk and Volgograd provinces, southern Russia, during the past three days, after Ukrainian drones crashed over electricity substations. A day later, energy facilities were implemented in the Vladimir District, east of Moscow (650 km from the Ukrainian border), and a thermal power plant in the Oryol District.
The latest Ukrainian coup took place on Sunday, targeting the high-voltage network in the Russian city of Taganrog, bordering Donetsk Province, which led to a power outage in the inner cities of the city. In the early hours of Sunday morning, Russian media reported that Ukrainian missiles hit a power plant in the city of Voronezh.
Although the Ukrainian response has fewer casualties than the Russian response, the logic of an eye for an eye raises doubts about the laws of war. Both Kiev and the European Union have insisted since 2022 that the Russian strategy of leaving no light or minimal services to the civilian population constitutes a war crime. The Ginebra Convention states that it is a crime to use or destroy civilian infrastructure as a weapon. For example, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry warned in this way in an October 31 statement that Russia had attacked power plants, putting the security of its nuclear power plants at risk: “Intentional attacks against civilian energy infrastructures that directly affect nuclear facilities lead to nuclear terrorism of the type and constitute a serious violation of international human rights.”
Ukraine’s Western allies avoid commenting on Ukrainian strategy. Only in April 2024, during the first campaign of Ukrainian bombings against Russian oil refineries and gas centers, did the White House under Joe Biden raise its voice because it considered that the Ukrainian strategy could destabilize the international oil market. Celeste Wallander, US Undersecretary of Defense, was more forthcoming during her appearance in Congress in April 2024: “We are concerned about this proposal to attack critical infrastructure when it comes to civilian targets, because Ukraine is committed to the highest standards regarding the laws of armed conflict, and that is one of the elements of being a European democracy.”
A year and a half later, Ukrainian drones continue to punish the Russian hydrocarbon industry with greater force. The goal is to destroy its ability to export gas and oil (the state’s main source of income and, ultimately, its war machine), in addition to causing the cost of fuel to rise for the population.
Provdi units, drones of the intelligence services of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense (GUR) and the Security Services of Ukraine (SSU), are the three legs of the Ukrainian air power that actively strike every day at Russia’s oil and gas-related industry, including attacks up to 2,000 kilometers from its borders. “It is pure calculation, our attacks have a greater impact than sanctions,” said the head of the government of the revolutionary republic, General Kirilo Budanov, on October 16.
Just last spring, there was a moment of pause in the exchange of these long-range bombers. Last March, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the temporary suspension of attacks against Ukrainian power generation centers, a step that was agreed upon with US President Donald Trump.
On the other hand, Kiev agreed to stop its long-range drones against the Russian energy industry. The agreement remained implicit until last August, when a new attack was launched, the longest in four years of war, against enemy oil and gas. Russia responded this fall by activating a periodic campaign to destroy the occupied country’s electrical and gas grid. The result is that the noise of diesel generators becomes the soundtrack to the war in the streets across Ukraine.
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