Russian Missiles Hit Kyiv Power Plant and Apartment Block: 2 Killed, 21 Injured as Zelenskyy Says Allies Gave No Warning

Late on Tuesday night, Russian ballistic missiles slammed into Kyiv, hitting one of the capital's main power plants and a nine-storey apartment building. Two people were killed and 21 injured, including an eight-year-old child, in an attack that Ukraine's president says came without the advance warning from Western allies that Kyiv has come to rely on.

The missiles struck at about 10:40 p.m. local time on Tuesday, October 13, according to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The main target, he said, was energy infrastructure — specifically thermal power plant No. 4, known as CHP-4, one of Kyiv's most important energy facilities. "Unfortunately, it was hit," Zelenskyy wrote.

Combined heat-and-power plants like CHP-4 generate electricity and feed the district-heating networks that keep apartment blocks warm — which makes them a high-value target with winter approaching.

Apartment block ablaze in Desnianskyi

In the Desnianskyi district, a missile struck a nine-storey residential building, igniting a fire that spread through apartments from the first to the eighth floors. Apartments were ablaze and residents were evacuated as rescue crews worked through the night.

By 1:30 a.m. on Wednesday, crews had recovered a second body from the damaged building, Mayor Vitali Klitschko reported. The injured toll had risen to 21, including an eight-year-old child. Sixteen people were hospitalized, four of them in serious condition, as search-and-rescue operations continued.

The explosions caught people unprepared. A Kyiv Post journalist recounted how a friend walking her dog on Kyiv's left bank was caught off guard by the ballistic missile attack, with no advance warning. "The explosions were so loud that she was terrified," the journalist said.

Second night without a warning

What has angered Kyiv most is not only the strike itself but the silence before it. "Once again, no advance warning from our partners," Zelenskyy said. He said Ukraine's own systems detected the missiles "practically as they were approaching Kyiv."

It was the second consecutive night, he said, that Russian ballistic missiles reached the capital without allied notification. The previous evening, October 12, Russia launched five ballistic missiles that struck civilian infrastructure in Kyiv, with explosions heard before the air-raid alert was issued. The Ukrainian Air Force confirmed that no advance warning had been received through the usual channels from international partners, and presidential adviser Dmytro Lytvyn said military and intelligence services were investigating why the notifications were missing.

Ukraine relies heavily on Western — particularly American — intelligence to detect incoming Russian attacks, a point TRT World underlined in its coverage. Zelenskyy has previously said Ukraine received no warning before an earlier overnight attack, while US President Donald Trump has said Washington is still sharing intelligence even as he pressures Kyiv to halt attacks on Russian oil refineries, Reuters reported.

The absence of warnings has raised renewed questions about the intelligence-sharing arrangements Ukraine depends on to detect incoming Russian ballistic missiles. Ukrainian officials have not established why the notifications were missing — whether the cause was hard-to-detect missiles, a technical failure, or something else.

The energy ceasefire question

The strike lands days after Trump's surprise announcement on Sunday that Russia and Ukraine had agreed to an "energy ceasefire" — an end to long-range strikes on power plants and oil refineries. Zelenskyy said Moscow's actions showed it did not consider itself bound by what Trump announced. "Ukraine supported the energy ceasefire. Russia is targeting yet another power plant and the lives of our people," he said. "It is important that the world does not remain silent about this."

On Saturday, Trump suggested it was "time for Ukraine to get a new president," even as he pressed Kyiv to stop striking Russian refineries. The Kyiv attack now tests whether the energy ceasefire was ever real — and whether the intelligence-sharing pipeline Kyiv depends on is still functioning.

Strikes on both sides

The night's violence was not one-sided. A Ukrainian drone attack killed one person and damaged houses in the town of Balakovo in Russia's Saratov region, Governor Roman Busargin said on Telegram, according to TRT World. Balakovo is home to a nuclear power plant and a hydropower station whose dam spans the Volga River.

Russian attacks on Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities, once chiefly nocturnal, now disrupt daily life virtually around the clock, Reuters noted.

What happens next

Zelenskyy said Ukrainian intelligence had obtained information that Russian forces were preparing additional ballistic missile launches, and he urged residents to remain vigilant overnight and throughout Wednesday. He said Ukraine was working to replenish its air defences with interceptor missiles as Russia keeps targeting critical infrastructure ahead of winter.

With winter approaching and Russia repeatedly striking energy facilities, the question for Kyiv's allies is now twofold: whether the early-warning gap of the past two nights can be explained — and closed — and whether the energy ceasefire can be salvaged at all.

Sources

• Reuters — Russian missile attack on Kyiv kills one
• Kyiv Post — Russian Strike on Kyiv Kills Two, Injures 21 – Zelensky Warns of Missing Allied Alerts
• TRT World — Russian missile hits Kiev power plant as Zelenskyy flags lack of Western warning