Thousands lose power supply after Russia attacks frontline region, Ukraine says

Above, a heavily damaged building in Zaporizhzhia following Russian overnight attack in this photo released on Oct. 30, 2025. (Telegram/@ivan_fedorov_zp/AFP)
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Updated 02 November 2025
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Thousands lose power supply after Russia attacks frontline region, Ukraine says

  • Nearly 60,000 people were deprived of power supply after Russia’s overnight air attack
  • Zaporizhzhia endures near-daily Russian artillery, missile and drone strikes

KYIV: Nearly 60,000 people were deprived of power supply after Russia’s overnight air attack on Ukraine’s frontline region of Zaporizhzhia, while two people were killed in the southern region of Odesa, Ukrainian authorities said on Sunday.

As winter nears, Russia has stepped up missile and drone strikes on Ukraine’s power grid, triggering outages and forcing Kyiv’s emergency crews to race to repair damage and manage rolling blackouts.

The attack on Zaporizhzhia left two people wounded and reduced buildings to rubble, the regional governor, Ivan Federov, said on the Telegram messaging app.

“Crews will restore power as soon as the security situation allows,” Fedorov said on Telegram, where he posted nighttime photographs of buildings with facades and windows torn off.

Zaporizhzhia endures near-daily Russian artillery, missile and drone strikes that have destroyed homes, crippled utilities and killed scores, as Moscow pressures Ukraine’s defenses and disrupts links between its south and the rest of the country.

Fedorov said the overnight attack wounded two people. Russia’s 800 strikes on 18 settlements in the region killed one person and injured three over the 24 hours into Sunday morning, he added.

Two people died as a result of Russia’s overnight drone attack on Odesa on Ukraine’s Black Sea coast, Ukraine’s state emergency service said on Telegram.

Separately, the death toll from a Russian air attack that set ablaze a shop in the Dnipropetrovsk region on Saturday has risen to four and includes two boys aged 11 and 14, the region’s acting governor said.

There was no immediate comment from Russia about the attacks.

Both sides deny targeting civilians in the war that Russia launched with a full-scale invasion on Ukraine in 2022, but thousands have been killed in the conflict, the vast majority of them Ukrainian.


Swiss government bans purchase and import of Russian gas

Updated 3 sec ago
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Swiss government bans purchase and import of Russian gas

  • Switzerland is tightening restrictions on Russian diplomats accredited in the EU
  • It matched the EU’s economic sanctions on Russia since the invasion of Ukraine 4 years ago

GENEVA: Switzerland’s government on Wednesday announced that the purchase and import of Russian liquefied natural gas would soon be completely banned, as the Alpine nation aligns itself with the latest round of EU sanctions.
“From 25 April, a complete ban on the purchase and import of Russian liquefied natural gas (LNG) will apply in Switzerland,” the government said in a statement.
It added though that in the case of pre-existing long-term supply contracts, a transition period would apply until the end of the year.
“The measure aims to reduce Russia’s revenues from the sale of fossil fuels, which are a major source of funding for the war against Ukraine,” it said.
The move was among a number of measures adopted by the Swiss government on Wednesday to align with the European Union’s 19th package of sanctions against Russia, adopted by the bloc late last year.
Non-EU member Switzerland has since the start of Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine four years ago matched the bloc’s economic sanctions on Russia.
Bern said Wednesday it had decided on other measures in the financial sector which will come into force this week, including a ban on providing cryptocurrency services to Russian citizens and companies.
Transactions involving certain rouble-backed cryptocurrencies, such as stablecoin A7A5 have also been banned, the government said, adding that it had also extended the ban on using certain specialized messaging services for payment transactions.
Among other measures decided Wednesday was tightening restrictions on Russian diplomats accredited in the EU, who will now need to give advance notice if they transit through or enter Switzerland.