Russia unleashed a massive aerial attack across Ukraine overnight, targeting energy infrastructure ahead of the brutal winter freeze that will grip the country. More than 450 drones and 30 ballistic and cruise missiles were used in the seven-hour onslaught that inflicted severe damage to power stations and residential buildings.

A seven-year-old boy was killed and four people were injured in the southeastern city of Zaporizhzhzia, after 12 apartment blocks were hit. Meanwhile in Kyiv, nine people were injured after fragments from shot-down drones caused damage to apartment blocks, according to the mayor Vitaly Klitschko. In one incident, several floors of a 17-storey apartment building in the the Pechersky district caught fire after being hit by a drone.

The eastern districts of the capital city were also plunged into darkness and faced disruption to water supplies following power cuts, after the CHP-6 power and heating plant was struck.

President Volodymyr Zelensky described the attacks as “cynical and calculated” and against “everything that sustains normal life”.

He urged Western allies to provide Ukraine with more concrete support, writing in a post to his X social media channel: “What’s needed is not window dressing but decisive action – from the United States, Europe and the G7 – in delivering air defence systems and enforcing sanctions.”

Ukraine‘s leader had already warned on Thursday that Russia was intentionally trying to destroy the country’s energy grid ahead of the winter.

Critical infrastructure was hit in several key areas across Ukraine, with power cuts reported in the Kharkiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Poltava and Sumy regions.

At least three hydroelectric power plants and multiple thermal generating stations were targeted in the ferocious blitz.

Among them were the Kremenchuk Hydroelectric Power Station and the Kryvyi Rih Thermal Power Plant in Zelensky’s home city

Russian state media war reporter Andrey Rudenko could not resist gloating, calling the energy strikes “probably a final shot to the head for Zelensky”.

Ukrainians were warned that things could yet get worse as Russia desperately tries to break public morale.

Nikolay Lukashuk – head of the Dnipropetrovsk regional council – said: “Russia expects that a harsh winter and depriving Ukrainians of heat, light, and water will break the country’s will and improve Moscow’s negotiating positions.”

Ukraine has promised retaliation for the overnight attacks, with the head of Zelensky’s office Andriy Yermak vowing to respond in kind.

“Russia must understand that strikes on our infrastructure will be met with a response and their infrastructure will be destroyed,” he said.