REPORT: Kherson in the dark: the energy war strikes civilians

REPORT: Kherson in the dark: the energy war strikes civilians

Introduction: a city besieged by cold and darkness

Kherson, the martyred city of Russia's energy war

Kherson, a city under Ukrainian control since November 2022, has become the starkest symbol of the energy war that Russia is waging against Ukrainian civilians. Situated on the right bank of the Dnipro River, separated from the Russian-occupied bank by a few kilometres of water, the city endures continuous artillery fire, FPV drones, and missiles. But beyond the physical destruction, an invisible war is being fought here: a war against electricity, against heat, against the minimum conditions of human life.

In the heart of the winter of 2026, as temperatures plunged to -20°C, the Kherson combined heat and power plant — the sole source of heat for tens of thousands of residents — was deliberately destroyed by Russian strikes combining artillery, fibre-optic guided drones, and Molniya munitions. Local authorities described the strikes as "deliberate terror against civilians." That is not a political turn of phrase — it is a literal description of what is happening to this city condemned to fight for its daily survival.

The testimony of numbers, more eloquent than any speech

The statistics on Kherson are damning. Between 2024 and 2025, Russian forces killed 712 civilians in the Kherson region, wounding 4,175 others, according to The Insider. In January 2026, Russian strikes destroyed the Kherson combined heat and power plant (CHP), leaving tens of thousands of residents without heating in the dead of winter. According to Euromaidan Press, the president of Naftogaz Ukraine, Serhii Koretskyi, stated: "Over the past day, Russian forces deliberately targeted the Kherson CHP with artillery and drones. It was the only source of heat for tens of thousands of city residents." Entire neighbourhoods have had no electricity since 2022 or 2023.

ACAPS, the UN humanitarian agency, documented that five to ten civilians are killed every week in Kherson in these urban attacks — a higher rate than anywhere else on the front line. This is not a zone of conventional combat: it is a target city, held hostage by the firepower of a state that has decided that killing civilians is an acceptable strategic tool.

The destruction of the heat plant: a calculated crime

A vital piece of infrastructure methodically targeted

The Kherson combined heat and power plant was not hit by accident. According to Ukrainian authorities and Euromaidan Press, the CHP was struck simultaneously by artillery, fibre-optic guided drones, and high-charge Molniya munitions — a combination that speaks to meticulous planning. The objective was twofold: destroy the plant itself and prevent repair teams from intervening. Russian forces continued to fire on technicians attempting to carry out repairs, making any resumption of service impossible in the short term.

The destruction of this plant fits into a strategy documented by the ISW (Institute for the Study of War): Russian strikes aim to "island" Ukraine's electricity grid, splitting it into isolated segments unable to share power. In Kherson, this strategy has fully succeeded. The city has become an archipelago of fragile micro-grids, where electricity is rationed to a few hours a day at best. In certain neighbourhoods close to the river, there has been no electricity for years.

The FPV drone "human safari": systematic civilian terror

But the energy war is only one dimension of Kherson's ordeal. Russian FPV drone operators have developed what American journalist Zarina Zabrisky documented in her film under the name "human safari" — a practice of deliberately selecting and targeting civilian targets: cyclists, ambulance teams, pedestrians, volunteers. The Insider detailed how these attacks have become so systematic that walking down a street in Kherson has become an act of courage.

This tactic has an explicit objective: to make the city so unliveable that its population is forced to flee. By emptying Kherson of its inhabitants, Russia hopes not only to cause a humanitarian catastrophe, but also to symbolically reduce civilian presence in a city it considers "temporarily lost." It is territorial cleansing through terror, carried out with drones costing less than a thousand euros each. The efficiency of this system is chilling.

The Ukrainian electricity grid: an infrastructure in agony

From 38 GW to 14 GW: systematic bloodletting

The scale of the destruction inflicted on Ukraine's electricity grid is unprecedented in the history of modern conflicts. According to Forbes, available electricity capacity in Ukraine has fallen from roughly 38 GW before the invasion to just 14 GW in 2026. All 15 Ukrainian thermal power plants have been either destroyed or severely damaged. Half of all hydroelectric installations are offline or operating at reduced capacity. The external power supplies of the three nuclear plants still under Ukrainian control have been disrupted on multiple occasions.

Between October 2025 and February 2026, Russia launched 15 mass attacks on energy infrastructure — more than three times the rate of previous winters, according to the Dixi Group. In total, more than 20,000 attack drones and 300 cruise missiles have targeted energy installations since October 2025, according to British intelligence. In February 2026, Russia launched 288 missiles in a single month — the highest monthly figure since at least early 2023.

The "islanding" strategy: divide to darken

The Russian strategy targets the 750 kV high-voltage lines connecting power generation plants in western Ukraine with industrial demand in eastern Ukraine. If these lines are severed, the grid fractures into isolated islands unable to share power. The CEPA (Center for European Policy Analysis) warned in March 2026 that nuclear plants in the west can no longer supply the east if the 750 kV lines are cut. If fully successful, this strategy would cripple Ukraine's defence industry and the country's capacity to resist.

In Kyiv, during the winter of 2026, residents had access to electricity for just 3 to 4 hours per day. More than 600,000 people temporarily left the capital due to lack of heating and running water. Nationwide, it is estimated that several million civilians endured power outages of more than 16 hours, with some exceeding 72 hours in the worst-affected areas.

The Ukrainian response: ingenuity and resilience under fire

Decentralisation, generators, and "Invincibility Points"

Faced with this war of energy attrition, Ukraine has developed remarkable responses. The Kherson regional administration undertook to decentralise the heating system, replacing the destroyed power plant with a network of modular boilers and individual heating units. Electric and gas stoves were distributed to residents. A network of "Invincibility Points" — heated public shelters where civilians can warm up, recharge their devices, and receive first aid — was deployed across Ukraine.

For the 40,000 households in villages along the Dnipro, the authorities organised the distribution of firewood and financial aid. This forced adaptation, born of necessity, speaks to the extraordinary resilience of Ukrainian civil society. But it must not obscure the essential: palliative solutions cannot replace a functioning energy infrastructure. Every generator distributed is an admission that the grid is on its knees.

The Ukrainian counter-strike campaign against Russian energy

Ukraine responded to the energy war with a symmetrical energy war against Russia. Ukrainian drones struck refineries, fuel depots, and pumping stations deep inside Russian territory — including the Vtorovo station in the Vladimir region, hit in May, in June, and again in June 2026. These strikes aim to dry up the oil revenues that fund the missiles and drones raining down on Kherson. Ukraine struck 18 Russian oil and gas installations in May alone — a monthly record for 2026.

The Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) was explicit: "Oil revenues are converted into missiles, drones, and munitions used to attack Ukrainian cities. We will therefore continue to systematically deprive the Russian war machine of the resources it needs for its military efforts." It is a coherent strategy, but it will not restore heating to an elderly woman in Kherson before the next cold season.

The human cost in Kherson: figures and faces

A decimated population condemned to stay

Kherson's pre-war population was around 280,000. Today, a fraction remains — estimates range between 60,000 and 80,000, predominantly elderly residents, the poor, and those with nowhere else to go. These people who remain are the most vulnerable, the least mobile, the least protected. They bear the full brunt of the power cuts, the heating failures, and the "human safari" drones.

Testimonies collected by The Insider illustrate the absurd daily reality: Ivan, a resident, survives thanks to a single electric radiator in one room, the rest of the apartment bitterly cold. "You live in one room, and the rest of the apartment stays cold." Due to power cuts caused by Russian attacks, even that last refuge is regularly taken away for hours at a stretch. Elderly people isolated in unheated apartments are the group most at risk of hypothermia. CEPA estimates that between people killed, wounded, and forcibly displaced, Putin's war against Ukrainian civilians represents one of the most severe humanitarian crises in Europe since World War II.

The international stakes: outrage is not enough

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, condemned Russian strikes on Ukraine's energy infrastructure in January 2026 as "cruel" and "a clear violation of the laws of war." He called on Moscow to immediately cease these attacks. UNICEF raised the alarm about risks of hypothermia and pneumonia for Ukrainian children. These condemnations are necessary — they are not sufficient. They have not slowed a single drone in Russia's campaign against Ukrainian civilian infrastructure.

Real protection requires additional air defence systems — enough Patriots, ballistic missile interceptors capable of neutralising the Iskander-M missiles Russia uses against city centres. In June 2026, President Zelensky repeated this request after every attack on Kyiv: without adequate air defence, civilians keep dying. The West has the capacity to change this equation. The question is whether it has the will.

The energy war in the broader context of the conflict

An old tactic, an industrialised execution

The use of energy infrastructure as a weapon of war is not new. Russia began systematically striking Ukrainian electricity infrastructure in October 2022. But the winter of 2025–2026 represented an unprecedented qualitative and quantitative escalation. Russia deployed more sophisticated combinations of weapons: jet-powered Shahed drones (faster, harder to intercept), Zircon hypersonic missiles used against civilian targets, Iskander-M ballistic missiles of which only a fraction can be intercepted.

This escalation is partly explained by Russian territorial losses on the front and the inability to capture new cities. Unable to advance decisively in military terms, Moscow compensates by inflicting maximum suffering on the Ukrainian civilian population, hoping to break its will to resist. This is a strategy that has historically failed — the Nazi bombing of London strengthened British resolve, not the reverse. Ukrainian resilience in the face of these strikes reflects the same dynamic.

Ukraine strikes back too: a symmetrical energy war

Ukraine has been waging, since September 2025, a systematic and increasingly effective campaign against Russian energy installations. Ukrainian long-range drones have hit refineries as far as Siberia, fuel depots in the Krasnodar and Saratov regions, and export terminals on the Black Sea and the Baltic Sea. According to Forbes, Russian oil and gas revenues fell by nearly 50% compared to the previous year in early 2026.

This symmetry is not without moral and strategic risks. Ukraine maintains that it only targets military or dual-use infrastructure that directly contributes to Russia's war effort. But the line between military and civilian infrastructure is sometimes blurred. What is certain is that Ukrainian deep strikes into Russian territory are exerting real economic pressure on the Kremlin, depriving Moscow of the resources it needs to maintain the tempo of its strikes against Ukraine.

Zaporizhzhia in flames: the second energy front

An industrial city transformed into a permanent target

If Kherson symbolises the energy war in its most human dimension, Zaporizhzhia illustrates its industrial dimension. On 26 June 2026, Russian missiles and drones set the city ablaze, wounding at least nine civilians and starting fires in residential and industrial neighbourhoods. This city in south-eastern Ukraine, notably home to the largest nuclear power plant in Europe — currently under Russian occupation — is a strategic and symbolic target of the first order.

The Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP), occupied by Russian forces since March 2022, continues to operate under precarious conditions that concern the IAEA. Strikes on the city — the Ukrainian side of the front — create additional pressure on populations already worn down by four years of war. Local authorities have documented damage to water and electricity networks, adding to the accumulated destruction since 2022. The city, once home to 700,000 inhabitants, has seen its population fall by more than half.

The logic of the combined missile-drone strike

The tactic used in Zaporizhzhia on 26 June illustrates an evolution in Russian methods: the combination of ballistic missiles to saturate air defences and precision FPV drones to target transformers and substations once the defences are exhausted. This systematic approach is more costly to counter than a single-type strike, because it forces defenders to spread their interceptors between two very different categories of target.

Ukraine responded to these strikes by strengthening its rapid repair teams — technicians who intervene on damaged infrastructure within hours, often under fire. This model of active resilience, developed since the winter of 2022, has significantly reduced the duration of power cuts. But it comes at a high human cost: several technicians have been killed or wounded during these interventions under fire.

The Western response: sanctions and military support ramping up

The 21st European sanctions package targets Russian energy

In response to Russia's energy war against Ukraine, the European Union adopted its 21st sanctions package in June 2026, directly targeting the revenue sources that fund the missiles and drones Moscow uses against Ukrainian civilians. The package includes an oil price cap lowered to $44.10 per barrel, targeting of Russia's shadow fleet, and restrictions on cryptocurrencies and alternative financial circuits used to circumvent SWIFT sanctions. According to S&P Global, Urals crude is already trading at around $44.3, indicating that the cap is beginning to bite.

These sanctions represent a real and substantial collective effort. But their effectiveness remains limited by the absence of Chinese engagement: China continues to purchase Russian oil at discounted prices, depriving the sanctions of much of their maximum impact. As long as Beijing maintains this preferential trade with Moscow, Russian revenues will be compressed — but not sufficiently to stop the war machine. That is the structural limit of any sanctions policy that does not enjoy global consensus.

The PURL mechanism: NATO funds Kyiv's air defences

On the military side, NATO allies developed an innovative mechanism: the PURL (Prioritised Ukraine Requirements List). This system allows European and Canadian allies to pay Washington for American weapons — primarily Patriot interceptors — which are delivered directly to Ukraine. According to official data compiled by the US Ukraine monitoring office, NATO allies contributed $4.2 billion through PURL by 31 March 2026, funding 70% of all missiles for Ukrainian Patriot batteries.

This mechanism is directly linked to the capacity of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia to defend themselves. Every Patriot interceptor funded through PURL is one more missile that can neutralise an Iskander-M before it reaches a power plant or a residential building. The energy war is won as much in American arms factories as on Ukrainian battlefields. This industrial reality must be understood and supported by all Western allies.

Conclusion: Kherson must survive, the West must act

A city that refuses to die

Kherson holds. Despite the destruction, despite the cold, despite the "human safari" drones and the missiles that fall every week, the city holds. The residents who have chosen to stay bear witness to an ordinary courage that commands respect. The repair teams who risk their lives to restore damaged transformers under fire deserve to be known by the whole world. Ukrainian resilience in the face of Russia's energy war is one of the most remarkable chapters of this conflict — and one of the least known.

The columnist maintains full editorial responsibility for the analysis and judgments expressed in this article. Any errors of fact, should they be identified by readers, will be corrected in subsequent publications.

What the West must do now

The conclusion is stark: without increased aid in air defence systems, industrial generators, grid restoration equipment, and insulating building materials, cities like Kherson will continue to suffer through every winter to come. The West has the industrial and financial capacity to change this reality. The 21 European sanctions packages are useful, but they do not heat a living room in Kherson in January. Support must be economic, military, and humanitarian — and it must be delivered before the next winter, not after.

By Maxime Marquette, columnist

Columnist's transparency note

My sources and their nature

This article draws on field reports from Euromaidan Press, The Insider, ACAPS (a UN agency), the UN, CEPA, and Forbes. I have not visited Kherson and I have no direct sources on the ground. The testimonies cited come from reports verified by reference media. Casualty and destruction figures come from official Ukrainian sources and independent international organisations.

All factual claims in this article are derived from open, publicly accessible sources. No classified information was consulted or referenced. The interpretation of facts reflects the columnist's analytical perspective and is clearly distinguished from the facts themselves throughout the text.

Acknowledged biases and limits of the analysis

I am clearly pro-Ukraine and consider Russian strikes on civilian infrastructure to be war crimes. I acknowledge that Russia contests some of these characterisations and presents its strikes as targeting dual-use military-civilian infrastructure. I do not share that reading, but I mention it to be transparent about the existence of a contradictory narrative. My conviction is that the deliberate brutality against civilians is documented and incontestable — the civilian casualty figures prove it.

Readers are encouraged to consult the primary and secondary sources listed at the end of this article to form their own judgment. Journalism, even committed journalism, benefits from multiple readings and cross-referenced sources.

Sources

Primary sources

Euromaidan Press — Russia destroys Kherson's only heat source — January 2026

The Insider — Stepping outside your apartment is a mortal risk: Russian forces terrorize Kherson — February 2026

UN — UN rights chief condemns Russian strikes on Ukraine's power grid — January 2026

ACAPS — Ukraine humanitarian access update January–April 2026 — June 2026

Secondary sources

Forbes — 2026 Update Russia-Ukraine Energy War — February 2026

CEPA — Russia's Summer Campaign to Darken Ukraine's Winter — March 2026

Al Jazeera — Deliberate torment: Ukrainians left without heating after Russian attacks — January 2026

Ukrainska Pravda — Energy infrastructure strikes: Ukrainian minister explains how Russia adapts — June 2026