Key developments on Oct. 10-11:
- Russia besieges Kyiv's energy infrastructure as Trump calls for an energy ceasefire
- Ukraine's drone production jumps 370% in 2026, says defense ministry
- Russian attacks kill at least 2, injure 25 across Ukraine as Moscow targets energy infrastructure around Kyiv
- Third Yandex data center in Russia shut down following reported drone attack
- Russian guided bombs hit Zaporizhzhia residential neighborhood, killing at least 20, injuring 32
Kyiv's electricity and water grids came under renewed strain on Oct. 11, as Russia continued its attacks on civilian infrastructure despite U.S. President Donald Trump's call for an "energy ceasefire."
"The enemy continues to attack energy infrastructure," warned Kyiv Mayor Vitalii Klitschko on the afternoon of Oct. 11, hours before Trump said an energy ceasefire was reached between Ukraine and Russia.
A senior Ukrainian official told the Kyiv Independent Ukraine had no information about an energy ceasefire that Trump announced.
Mayor Klitschko mentioned damage to a high-voltage power line, along with reduced water pressure across the city. "Emergency crews are already working," he said.
Throughout the day, journalists from the Kyiv Independent heard explosions in both downtown Kyiv and further out.
Ukrainian energy company DTEK also reported short power outages in different parts of the Ukrainian capital.
The day before, Trump tried to pin the blame for the continuation of the war on President Volodymyr Zelensky, calling on him to stop attacking Russian oil refineries after he had signed a potentially illegal deal with Moscow to import diesel.
But Zelensky made clear that these attacks, which have reduced Russian refining capacity by 45%, would only be called off once Moscow stops attacking Ukraine's energy infrastructure.
Attacks on Kyiv already plunged the city into near-total darkness on Oct. 8, and the expectation is that Ukrainians will have to brace for more of the same over the winter months.
Ukraine's drone production jumps 370% in 2026, says defense ministry
Ukraine's defense ministry announced on Oct. 11 that it has ordered and received significantly more drones so far in 2026 than it had done for the whole of the previous year.
A press release from the defense ministry notes that its procurement agency has contracted for 5.5 times as many drones as in the same period of 2025, and that the volume of deliveries has increased by almost 3.7 times.
"The task of the Ministry of Defense is to give the army drones to work effectively at every level," said Defense Minister Yevhen Khmara in a press statement.
"Technology and the availability of sufficient means increase combat effectiveness and at the same time reduce risks for our soldiers," Khmara said.
"Such indicators became possible thanks to the direction of support from international partners and the scaling of the capabilities of the Ukrainian defense industry," reads the press statement.
An increasing number of deals between Ukraine and other European countries are helping bolster drone procurement across the continent, whether it is the announcement of support packages from Germany, the U.K. signing a battlefield data deal with Kyiv to develop AI drone swarms, or the EU-Ukraine drone alliance beginning work in September.
More EU money to help Ukraine procure drones is also expected to arrive by the end of 2026.
The bloc disbursed 1.2 billion euros ($1.4 billion) on Oct. 7 and is expected to make another payment to Ukraine ahead of the Oct. 14 summit of EU leaders, two EU officials told the Kyiv Independent.
Of the EU defense support available to Kyiv by the end of 2026 alone, 15.4 billion euros ($17.2 billion) remains unused.
Russian attacks kill at least 2, injure 25 across Ukraine as Moscow targets energy infrastructure around Kyiv
At least two people were killed and 25 others injured across Ukraine over the past day, as Russia continues to target residential buildings and energy infrastructure across the country.
In Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, one child was killed and a further five people injured, of which two are children, said Serhii Lysak, head of the oblast's military administration.
Following that announcement, Russia attacked a residential building, injuring at least four people, along which two eight-year-old girls, Lysak said, taking the total injured in the region to at least nine.
One person was killed and four injured in Donetsk Oblast, reported Governor Vadym Filashkin.
Kyiv Oblast's military administration reports four people injured, with Russian drone strikes targeting "civilian facilities, housing, and energy infrastructure."
While in Kharkiv Oblast, six people were injured, of which one child, Governor Oleh Syniehubov posted on Telegram.
One person was also injured in Kherson Oblast, noted Oleksandr Prokudin, head of the Kherson regional military administration, while three people were evacuated from liberated communities in the region.
Sumy Oblast military administration noted that two men were injured as a result of drone attacks.
Chernihiv Oblast, Khmelnytskyi Oblast, Kirovohrad Oblast, Mykolaiv Oblast, Odesa Oblast, and Rivne Oblast were also attacked but no casualties or significant damage was reported.
Third Yandex data center in Russia shut down following reported drone attack
Russian technology giant Yandex's data center in Vladimir Oblast has been completely shut down following a reported drone attack, Russian state news agency TASS said on Oct. 11, citing the company.
The reported strike marks the third near-consecutive day of attacks on Yandex data centers in Russia, following confirmed strikes in Ryazan and Kaluga oblasts on Oct. 8 and 9.
Earlier on Oct. 11, Yandex Cloud reported power disruptions in an availability zone identified as being located at the company's data center in Vladimir.
"There are power interruptions in the ru-central1-a availability zone. The team is working to resolve the issue," the company said in a statement published on its official Telegram channel.
Yandex Go users across Russia reported being unable to order taxis on Oct. 11, with similar disruptions reported in Serbia, Kazakhstan, Belarus and Armenia, according to Russian independent media outlet Ostorozhno Novosti..
The outlet also reported that Yandex Pro, an application used by taxi drivers and couriers, was unavailable, while employees experienced problems accessing internal support systems. Users also reported disruptions to Yandex's smart home services.
Russian independent media outlet ASTRA reported that Yandex Cloud experienced power disruptions at its Vladimir data center following warnings of a drone attack in the region. Ukrainian monitoring channels also circulated images purportedly showing a fire near the facility.
The Kyiv Independent could not independently verify the images or the extent of damage at the facility or to any of the Yandex apps or services.
The latest incident follows two drone strikes that Yandex has publicly acknowledged.
On Oct. 8, a drone attack caused a fire at the company's data center in Sasovo, Ryazan Oblast, forcing it to suspend operations completely. Yandex said it could not yet determine when the facility's equipment could be restored.
A second strike on Oct. 9 damaged the company's data center in Kaluga, disabling several modules and potentially disrupting services.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Oct. 8 that Ukraine was responding to Russian strikes on Ukrainian data centers. "We always respond in kind," he told journalists, adding that Russia "has been and still is striking our data centers."
In a statement on Oct. 9, Yandex described its data centers as critical infrastructure for its services and said employees were working around the clock to restore operations.
On Oct. 10, Yandex updated its user agreement to include drone and missile attacks among circumstances of force majeure that could exempt the company from contractual obligations.
Russian guided bombs hit Zaporizhzhia residential neighborhood, killing at least 20, injuring 32
Russian forces struck a residential neighborhood in Zaporizhzhia with guided aerial bombs early on Oct. 10, killing 20 people, including three children, and injuring 32, reported Zaporizhzhia Oblast's regional administration reported amid ongoing search-and-rescue operations.
The injured victims also include three children, the State Emergency Service said.
Russia attacked the neighborhood with five guided aerial bombs, nearly destroying parts of residential buildings and trapping civilians underneath the rubble, according to authorities.
One strike partially destroyed a section of an apartment building, causing parts of the building to collapse to the second floor, according to Mykhailo Semikin, acting governor of Zaporizhzhia Oblast.
A woman was pulled out from underneath the collapsed building after being trapped for eight hours. Rescue workers continue searching for people, as several individuals remain unreachable, Interior Minister Ivan Vyhivskyi said said in the afternoon.
The State Emergency Service reported that three people had been rescued as of 6:15 p.m. local time.
Ukraine's Air Force warned at around 5 a.m. that Russian tactical aircraft had launched guided aerial bombs toward Zaporizhzhia.
Vyhivskyi said that despite the threat of a double-tap strike, Ukraine's first responders were trying to clear the rubble from the buildings as quickly as possible.
The attack was "against ordinary homes, against families with children," Vyhivskyi noted.
The attack came a day after Russian guided aerial bombs struck residential areas of Zaporizhzhia on Oct. 9, killing at least one person and injuring seven others, including a child, according to regional officials.
Russian forces have repeatedly targeted Zaporizhzhia, a southeastern Ukrainian city near the front line, with guided aerial bombs, drones, and missiles.
Russia has occupied parts of Zaporizhzhia Oblast since the beginning of its full-scale invasion in February 2022, while the regional capital of Zaporizhzhia remains under Ukrainian control.