Kyiv halts trams and trolleybuses as Russian strikes cut power and water

As of 2:56 p.m. ET, Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2026

Kyiv suspended tram and trolleybus service from Tuesday evening after Russian strikes on Ukraine's power system caused emergency blackouts and water outages in the capital, city officials said. Ukraine's grid operator said Wednesday morning it had partly stabilized the system overnight, but warned the situation remained difficult, especially in Kyiv and the surrounding region.

The city said trams and trolleybuses would stop "temporarily" because of the "critical situation in the country's energy system as a result of enemy shelling," according to a post on Kyiv's official Telegram channel at 12:15 p.m. ET Tuesday. Buses run by the city transit company Kyivpastrans are covering about 30 trolleybus routes and 10 tram routes, but the city said those buses "will not be able to fully replace" electric transport. The metro was running normally, though the city said its operation would depend on the grid. Tram and trolleybus service will resume once the energy system stabilizes, the city said. It did not give a date, and no resumption had been announced in the city's posts reviewed for this report.

One of the largest attacks on the grid

Ukrenergo, the national grid operator, said Tuesday that "one of the most massive attacks" on Ukraine's energy infrastructure had been under way since overnight. It said Russia had targeted energy facilities more than 20 times in a day, forcing emergency outages in several regions, including Kyiv, according to a Ukrenergo statement.

Russian forces hit power plants and substations in nine regions, and damage was recorded in 14 regions in total, Prime Minister Serhii Koretskyi said, according to RBC-Ukraine. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russia launched 289 attack drones, 17 ballistic missiles and 59 cruise missiles overnight, and noted that the attack came on the day of U.S. congressional elections, RBC-Ukraine reported. Euronews also reported the drone and ballistic missile figures, citing Zelenskyy. Russia's defense ministry said it carried out a "massive strike" on energy facilities, Euronews reported.

Private energy company DTEK said three of its thermal power plants stopped generating electricity after Russia hit them with dozens of missiles and drones overnight and Tuesday morning, causing "large-scale" destruction. DTEK later said the hardest situation was in Kyiv, where it was impossible to give predictable outage schedules.

Kyiv officials said damage to the Kyiv regional energy hub caused emergency blackouts in the city and region and disrupted water supply and electric transport. The city said it was opening heating points where residents could charge phones and get hot tea in the worst-hit areas, according to a later post.

Wednesday: power partly stabilized, water restored

Ukrenergo said at 5:47 a.m. ET Wednesday that crews working through the night had partly stabilized the grid. Emergency outages were canceled in most regions, including Kyiv, and replaced by rotating hourly outage schedules, it said. At that point, emergency outages remained only in the Kharkiv region, Ukrenergo said, but the situation was still "difficult, especially in Kyiv and the Kyiv region." DTEK, which had said earlier Wednesday that emergency outages were still in effect in Kyiv, said at 6:23 a.m. ET that they had been canceled in Kyiv and the Kyiv region and that outage schedules were back in effect. DTEK also said emergency outages had been applied in Dnipro on Ukrenergo's orders.

Kyiv's water supply was fully restored and pressure in the city's water network was back to normal, the city said at 7:01 a.m. ET Wednesday, after saying earlier that supply had been partly restored overnight. All of the capital's water and sewage pumping stations were operating normally, the city said.

Air raid alerts sounded repeatedly in Kyiv overnight. Falling drone debris set fire to the roof of a private house in the Sviatoshynskyi district and started a fire on open ground in the Holosiivskyi district, the city said Wednesday. It did not report any injuries in that post.

Zelenskyy, who was in Berlin on Tuesday, told German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier that energy facilities in Kyiv and five regions had been damaged since that morning, according to a post on his Telegram channel.

Russia claims hits on Kyiv and Zhytomyr region substations

Russia's Defense Ministry said in a Telegram post at 12:13 a.m. ET Wednesday that its drones had struck the 750-kilovolt Nalyvaikivka substation in the Kyiv region and the 110-kilovolt Chyzhivka substation in the Zhytomyr region overnight, as part of what it called continued strikes on Ukraine's energy system. Ukrainian officials did not confirm damage at those specific sites in posts reviewed for this report.

Ukrenergo said it would apply hourly outage schedules for all consumers in parts of the country again on Thursday, Nov. 5, at a larger volume of two to four queues, along with power limits for industry, citing "the consequences of massive Russian attacks on energy facilities," according to a post at 12:13 p.m. ET Wednesday.

The city of Kyiv had not announced a resumption of tram and trolleybus service in its posts reviewed for this update.

Ukrainian drone strikes reported in Russia

In southern Russia, a Ukrainian drone attack started a fire at a distribution warehouse of the online retailer Ozon in the town of Adygeysk, in the Republic of Adygea, regional head Murat Kumpilov said, according to Al Jazeera. Ozon said all workers were evacuated and no one was hurt, Al Jazeera reported. Ukraine has not commented on those strikes in sources reviewed for this report.

Russia's Defense Ministry said its air defenses shot down 46 Ukrainian drones over 12 Russian regions and occupied Crimea between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. Moscow time Wednesday, according to a Telegram post. Russia's Energy Ministry said Ukrainian strikes hit energy infrastructure in Crimea overnight and that temporary outage schedules were in force, Al Jazeera reported. GROKsiNEWS.com could not independently verify claims from either side.