Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Saturday accused Moscow of deliberately targeting civilian infrastructure after Russian strikes caused destruction, power outages and at least eight deaths across war-ravaged regions.

According to Ukraine’s air force, Russia launched 653 drones and 51 missiles overnight, one of the largest aerial assaults of the near-four-year war. Among the targets were Ukrainian energy facilities, railways and residential areas.

Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko confirmed at least eight injuries: three each in the Kyiv and Dnipropetrovsk regions and two in Lviv. 

The attacks coincided with St. Nicholas Day, the traditional start of the Christmas season in Ukraine and also the nation’s Armed Forces Day.

"The main targets of these strikes, once again, were energy facilities," Zelenskyy wrote on social media.

He said Russia aims to "inflict suffering on millions of Ukrainians, and they stoop so low as to launch missiles at peaceful cities on St. Nicholas Day."

Civilian infrastructure hit hard

The strikes caused widespread damage in the Dnipro, Chernihiv, Zaporizhzhya, Odesa, Lviv, Volyn and Mykolaiv regions, officials said.

In the Odesa region, Restoration Minister Oleksiy Kuleba reported that 9,500 households were left without heating and 34,000 without water due to damage to local facilities.

One of the most symbolic blows came in Fastiv, a town southwest of Kyiv, where a Russian drone strike burned down the main railway station building.

While no casualties were reported there, Ukraine’s state rail operator said suburban rail traffic was disrupted.

Zelenskyy condemned the Fastiv attack as "meaningless from a military point of view."

Rolling power outages were introduced nationwide to stabilize the grid, announced by Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko after convening an emergency meeting.

Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant briefly lost all off‑site power overnight before being reconnected, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said, with radiation levels remaining normal.

Russian strikes irk Poland

Poland, which borders Ukraine, scrambled fighter jets and placed air defense systems on standby in response to the strikes.

The Polish Armed Forces High Command said the measures were precautionary but underscored the risk of spillover from Russia’s campaign.

The Russian Defence Ministry claimed the strikes were aimed at Ukraine’s "military-industrial complex enterprises and the energy facilities that support them," insisting that "all designated targets were hit."

The Kremlin framed the assault as retaliation for alleged Ukrainian attacks on civilian sites inside Russia.

Kyiv targets Ryazan oil refinery

Meanwhile, Ukraine’s military said it struck the Russian Ryazan oil refinery and a shell‑casing plant in occupied Luhansk early Saturday.

The latest escalation came as Ukrainian negotiators were meeting in Florida with US envoys for a third consecutive day of talks on a US-drafted plan to end the nearly four-year war.

Britain announced Saturday that UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer will host Zelenskyy, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in London on Monday for talks on ending the war.

Despite these efforts, Russia has continued to pound Ukraine’s power and heating grid, destroying large parts of its civilian infrastructure.

Western officials have repeatedly warned that Moscow’s winter strategy is aimed at breaking Ukrainian morale by depriving millions of electricity, heat and water.

As it braces for further waves of strikes, the Ukrainian government has urged citizens to conserve electricity and prepare for extended outages.

Edited by: Rana Taha