Russian missile and drone attack reported on Ukrainian power plants, including Ladyzhyn

Russia launched a large combined missile and drone attack on Ukraine late on 2 November, according to several social media accounts that track the war. They said energy facilities were among the targets, including the Ladyzhyn thermal power plant in Vinnytsia region. In Kyiv, residents were reported to be heading to metro stations for shelter as the attack began ¹³.

The account @cym27s said the Ladyzhyn and Zelenodolsk thermal power plants had been struck ². Another account, @whiskeyandwar, said two thermal power plants in the Vinnytsia and Dnipropetrovsk regions were under attack. It also reported ballistic missile strikes and explosions in Dnipro and missile strikes in Kyiv and Kharkiv ⁴. None of these reports had been independently verified, and the accounts appear to be monitoring or commentary feeds rather than official or on-the-ground sources.

Accounts gave differing figures for the size of the attack. @AMK_Mapping_ described dozens of ground-launched missiles aimed at Ukrainian energy infrastructure ³. @War_Radar2 said more than 30 missiles had been fired alongside hundreds of one-way attack drones, with nearly a dozen strategic bombers involved ⁶. Other unverified accounts went further, claiming that none of the missiles were intercepted and that several more power plants were hit.

The weapons identified in these early reports are also unconfirmed. @Maks_NAFO_FELLA said up to four Zircon missiles were aimed at the Ladyzhyn plant ⁵. Other posts suggested that Zircon or Oniks cruise missiles and North Korean-made KN-23 ballistic missiles were used, and that a later wave of air-launched Kh-101 cruise missiles was expected. Weapon identifications made by open-source monitors in the first hours of an attack are frequently revised once Ukraine's Air Force publishes its own tally.

There was no official confirmation from Ukraine's Air Force, energy authorities or regional administrations of which sites were hit, the scale of any damage, or whether anyone was killed or injured. Russia's Defence Ministry had also not given an account of the strikes.

The Ladyzhyn plant has six 300-megawatt power units with a combined capacity of about 1.8 gigawatts. It has been attacked before. Ukrainska Pravda reported in October 2022 that the plant's press service said Russian drones had damaged its power equipment, during Russia's first large-scale campaign against Ukraine's electricity grid.

The reported attack followed other heavy fighting and long-range strikes. Earlier on 2 November, Russian aerial bombs reportedly hit an aid centre in Komyshuvakha in Zaporizhzhia region, killing at least 26 people. Overnight, Ukrainian forces were reported to have attacked oil refineries in Russia's Yaroslavl region and Nizhny Novgorod region. In the days before, there were reports of Ukrainian drone strikes on Russian energy sites in Samara and Bashkortostan.