Putin tells generals to abandon rules of war as Russia targets Kyiv with 1,000-weapon winter blitz plan

From the Newshound archive · first published 2 October 2026.

Russia appears to have launched a devastating winter offensive against Ukraine's energy infrastructure, with missiles and drones striking a major Kyiv thermal power plant before dawn on Wednesday and cutting power and water to several neighbourhoods. A Russian planning document intercepted and shared by Ukrainian Energy Minister Denys Shmyhal with European partners in Paris two weeks ago outlines coordinated attacks involving up to 1,000 missiles, drones and bombs. Electrical switchyards at three operating nuclear plants — Rivne, South Ukraine and Khmelnytskyi — are among the targets, each within a mile of the reactors, with the aim of forcing them offline. Putin has simultaneously instructed generals to ignore the rules of war as civilian infrastructure becomes an explicit target.

Under the three-stage Russian plan, the first step would be severing electricity imports from Europe, followed by destroying hydroelectric plants, then taking nuclear stations off the grid.

The campaign aims to wipe out close to 15 gigawatts of generating capacity — roughly the entirety of Ukraine's available power at summer's end.