Russian attacks in Ukraine kill at least 8, cut power to 1 million

SaveSharefacebookxwhatsapp-strokecopylinkAn emergency service deminer works at the site of an apartment building damaged during a Russian drone strike in the Rivne region, Ukraine, on October 16, 2026 [Handout/State Emergency Service of Ukraine via Reuters]By Al Jazeera Staff and ReutersPublished On 17 Oct 202617 Oct 2026Russian attacks killed at least eight people and injured 60 across Ukraine, hit two shopping centres and cut power to more than a million people, Ukrainian officials have said.The attacks on Friday struck nine regions. In the eastern city of Kharkiv, a 71-year-old woman and a 58-year-old man were killed and 12 people were wounded in strikes on three districts, Governor Oleh Syniehubov said.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3‘Massive’ Russian attack on Ukraine kills at least 9, damages power siteslist 2 of 3Trump slams Zelenskyy as Ukraine resumes strikes on Russian oil refinerieslist 3 of 3Ukrainians fear US intelligence cuts as Russian strikes intensifyend of listTwo people were killed in Kramatorsk, a frontline city in the Donetsk region, and two more in the southeastern Dnipropetrovsk region.In the northwestern Volyn region, which borders Poland, a drone strike on a food-processing facility killed one person and wounded eight, Governor Roman Romaniuk said.Drones also hit a customs terminal and set fire to about 10 trucks in the town of Kovel, on a major road from Kyiv to Poland.In Rivne, drones hit a major shopping centre and other sites, killing one person and wounding seven, regional governor Oleksandr Koval said.A shopping centre in Sumy, close to the front line, was also hit.Emergency service deminers work at the site of an apartment building damaged during a Russian drone strike in the Rivne region, Ukraine, on October 16, 2026 [Handout/State Emergency Service of Ukraine via Reuters]Power cutsUkraine’s Ministry of Energy said repair crews had restored power to more than a million people who lost it on Friday.In Volyn, about 370,000 households lost power, with supply since restored to at least 100,000 of them.The blackout could last at least 24 hours in the regional capital, Lutsk, Mayor Andriy Razumovskyi said.Large parts of Rivne were also left without power.Russia’s military chief told President Vladimir Putin on Friday that the military had allocated the assets needed to press its aerial campaign against Ukraine’s energy system.Civilian tollMeanwhile, the United Nations said on Friday that civilian casualties in Ukraine had climbed steeply.According to UN human rights monitors, at least 328 civilians were killed and 2,105 wounded in Ukraine last month, 85 percent more than in September 2025.Between January and September 2026, 2,570 civilians were killed and 15,211 wounded, almost 60 percent more than in the same period last year and more than twice the 2024 level, the report said.“The first two weeks of October were among the deadliest periods for civilians in years,” said Danielle Bell, head of the UN’s human rights monitoring mission in Ukraine.