Russia is intensifying its missile and drone attacks on Ukraine, seeking to inflict maximum damage on its economy ahead of a new round of peace talks mediated by the United States. In addition to energy infrastructure, industrial enterprises, seaports, railways, and logistics centers are increasingly coming under attack. Analysts believe the Kremlin is seeking to economically exhaust Ukraine because it cannot achieve the desired results on the battlefield. CNN reports this, according to UNN.
Details
As the outlet notes, amid difficulties in advancing Russian troops in eastern Ukraine, Moscow is directing increasingly more resources toward its aerial campaign. Russian missiles and drones are attacking Ukraine’s energy system more intensely and earlier than in previous years. The list of targets is also expanding to include facilities on which the functioning of the country’s economy depends.
John Lowe, head of international partnerships at the London-based think tank New Eurasian Strategies Centre, believes that Russia’s current aerial campaign is aimed at destroying the Ukrainian economy. In his assessment, Vladimir Putin has concluded that increasing troop numbers and continuing offensive operations in the Donbas are not producing the results Russia needs. The Kremlin is therefore attempting to undermine Ukraine’s economic resilience through the systematic destruction of critically important facilities. The analyst also warned that some of Kyiv’s European allies still do not fully understand the scale of the threat and the possible financial consequences for countries supporting Ukraine.
Experts believe the situation could deteriorate significantly in the coming months, as the consequences of previous Russian strikes accumulate and falling temperatures increase the strain on the damaged energy system.
The number of Russian strikes is increasing
According to the international organization Armed Conflict Location & Event Data (ACLED), which monitors armed conflicts, the intensity of Russian attacks on Ukraine increased substantially during 2026. While analysts recorded 3,650 Russian strikes in January, their number rose to 5,532 in October. Thus, over nine months, the increase amounted to nearly 52%.
According to ACLED, more than 2,700 Ukrainian civilians were killed by Russian strikes during 2026. CNN emphasizes that the mortality rate among the civilian population reached one of its highest levels since the beginning of the full-scale invasion.
Christian Vlas, ACLED’s researcher on Eastern Europe, warned that the coming winter could be accompanied by a significant deterioration in the humanitarian situation. Moreover, he predicts that the consequences of Russian attacks could become apparent earlier than last year.
Industry, ports, and railways under attack
One feature of Russia’s tactics highlighted by experts interviewed by CNN has been the increased number of attacks on enterprises, transport infrastructure, and facilities connected with the export of Ukrainian products. Russian forces regularly attack Black Sea and Danube ports, industrial warehouses, railway infrastructure, metallurgical enterprises, and facilities involved in grain exports.
In particular, between August and October, major metallurgical enterprises in Kryvyi Rih and Zaporizhzhia came under missile attack. As a result of the damage, some production facilities were forced to suspend operations. The authorities in Kryvyi Rih warned of serious socioeconomic consequences from the shutdown of industrial capacities, including the loss of income for thousands of families.
In Christian Vlas’s view, the consequences of such attacks are not limited to damage to equipment or reduced production. They directly affect revenues flowing into state and local budgets, employment levels, and the financial situation of the population. The expert explained that the destruction of industrial enterprises means the loss of part of Ukraine’s tax base, as well as reduced earnings for employees.
In his assessment, simultaneous attacks on industry, agriculture, exports, and logistics may indicate Moscow’s desire to provoke economic crises in several key sectors at once.
Russia is increasingly attacking during the day in order to paralyze business operations
Kateryna Stepanenko, head of Russia research at the U.S.-based Institute for the Study of War (ISW), noted a change in the timing of Russian attacks. According to her, whereas Russian forces previously carried out predominantly massive strikes at night, they are now increasingly attacking Ukrainian cities during the daytime. In the analyst’s view, these actions are partly aimed at disrupting everyday economic activity. During air-raid alerts, many government institutions, businesses, and retail establishments are forced to suspend operations. As a result, businesses lose working hours, while the economy suffers additional losses even when facilities are not directly damaged.
Attacks on shopping centers, warehouses, and logistics complexes remain a separate problem. Their destruction disrupts the supply of goods, causes the loss of products, and complicates business operations. In addition, disruptions to electricity and water supplies negatively affect the work of production facilities, retail chains, and small businesses.
The energy sector remains one of the main targets
As CNN reports, Russian forces continue to intensify their strikes on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, expanding their geographic reach. In particular, facilities in regions that had previously experienced fewer such attacks are coming under fire, including in Rivne region.
According to experts’ estimates, the accumulated scale of the damage is creating ever greater difficulties for restoring the energy system. Some power plants have suffered such severe destruction that their restoration may be impossible.
Another problem is the shortage of air-defense assets, especially interceptor missiles for the American Patriot systems, which are capable of countering Russian ballistic missiles. In addition, Russia is increasingly using Shahed-type jet-powered drones, whose interception requires additional efforts from Ukraine’s air defense.
Experts note that the consequences of the attacks are becoming particularly tangible as winter cold approaches, when a stable supply of electricity, heat, and water is critically important for the population. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha, for his part, warned that Moscow is deliberately trying to leave millions of Ukrainians without basic utilities on the eve of winter. According to him, Russia seeks to use cold and darkness to achieve goals it cannot accomplish on the battlefield.
The UN recognized systematic strikes on the energy sector as crimes against humanity
On October 26, the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine published its findings regarding Russian attacks on energy infrastructure. The commission established that the Russian authorities had carried out systematic strikes on civilian energy facilities as part of a state policy aimed at depriving the population of electricity and other essential services.
In preparing the report, experts took into account the testimonies of 255 people who experienced the consequences of attacks on the energy system in various regions of Ukraine, including during the harsh winter of 2025–2026. Following the investigation, the commission classified the relevant actions of the Russian authorities as war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Massive attacks on the eve of peace talks
CNN’s publication appeared amid preparations for trilateral talks between Ukraine, Russia, and the United States, scheduled to take place on November 10–11 in Abu Dhabi.
On the eve of the talks, during the night of November 7, Russian forces carried out another large-scale combined attack on Ukraine. According to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Russia used 172 drones and 36 ballistic missiles, targeting Kyiv and Kyiv region. Once again, the main target was energy infrastructure.
In particular, substations supplying electricity from the Rivne and Khmelnytskyi nuclear power plants to the capital and central regions were damaged. Energy facilities in other regions, residential buildings, and transport infrastructure were also affected. In Kyiv, there were disruptions to electricity, water, and heating supplies.
The President of Ukraine regarded the intensification of Russian strikes as an attempt to pressure the Ukrainian side ahead of a new round of diplomacy.
At the same time, analysts interviewed by CNN emphasize that the danger of Russia's current strategy lies in its cumulative effect. The destruction of industry, disruption of exports, destruction of energy-generating capacity, and declining household incomes reinforce one another. In their view, the Kremlin is attempting to use these processes to weaken Ukraine's ability to continue resisting, as well as to increase the financial burden on its international partners.
It should be recalled
On November 7, Russian attacks on the energy sector left more than 60,000 consumers in Dnipro without power.
And already on November 8, more than 600,000 residents of the region in the Pavlohrad, Samarivka, Kamianske, and Dnipro districts of Dnipropetrovsk region, as well as in the city of Dnipro itself, were left without electricity.