Russian drone and artillery attacks killed two people and wounded at least 10 others, including a 15-year-old boy in the Dnipropetrovsk region on Monday, Oct. 19, as regional authorities continue preparing for the upcoming winter and possible winter outages.
Oleksandr Hanzha, head of the Dnipropetrovsk Regional Military Administration, reported that Russian forces struck three districts of the region, more than 20 times.
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Kryvyi Rih, President Volodymyr Zelensky’s hometown, faced the brunt of the attack. Two people were killed and eight were injured in the city alone, according to local authorities.
A 43-year-old woman and two men, aged 39 and 37, were hospitalized in serious condition.
A 15-year-old boy and another 37-year-old man suffered moderate injuries, while three other men – aged 18, 46, and 36 – received outpatient care.
The attack damaged an industrial enterprise, a logistics company, a bank, shops, an educational facility, apartment buildings and private vehicles.
According to Hanzha, Russian forces also targeted the nearby Zelenodolsk community.
Dnipro and Nikopol districts also hit
In the regional capital, Dnipro, the strikes damaged infrastructure and a high-rise apartment building.
A 55-year-old man was hospitalized in moderate condition.
Russian forces also shelled the city of Nikopol and the Marhanets, Chervonohryhorivka and Pokrovske communities in Nikopol district, damaging private vehicles and infrastructure.
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A 25-year-old woman was wounded and received outpatient care.
Preparing for winter blackouts
The strike came as the region steps up preparations for power outages this winter.
Since the beginning of the year, more than 125 megawatts (MW) of alternative generation capacity has been put into operation in the Dnipropetrovsk region.
“We are protecting critical infrastructure and installing cogeneration units and modular boiler houses,” Hanzha said, adding that the authorities are also equipping hospitals, boiler houses and water utilities with backup power sources.
He said he would regularly report on what cities and towns across the region are doing to ensure residents have electricity, heat and water this winter.
The first update covered the Slobozhanske community in Dnipro district, home to more than 25,000 people. Its schools, kindergartens, hospital and outpatient clinics now all have backup power and reserves of water and generator fuel, and local officials say the equipment has been tested.
“We are all working together: utility workers, energy workers, businesses and communities,” Hanzha said.
In case of a blackout, the main hospital’s operating room, emergency department, laboratory and intensive care units would keep running.
The facility can switch to backup power instantly and move to autonomous heating within 12 hours, according to Hanzha.
For months, senior Ukrainian authorities have repeatedly warned that Russia is preparing to escalate its winter campaign. This time, they said, the strikes would go beyond power and heating infrastructure to target water supplies.
As early as August, Energy Minister Denys Shmyhal warned that Moscow’s goal was to destroy Ukraine’s water systems, noting that people could survive blackouts last winter as long as they still had gas and water.
In late September, he said Ukrainian intelligence had obtained two detailed Russian documents outlining planned strikes on electricity generation, heating, water supply and sewage systems.
Speaking during a briefing to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s command post of Russia’s Joint Group of Forces on Oct. 16, Russia’s Chief of General Staff Valery Gerasimov confirmed that Moscow is now also targeting strategic bridges, railway infrastructure, and data centers across Ukraine.
Prime Minister Serhii Koretskyi reiterated on Monday that Russia is increasingly focusing on Kyiv’s water supply and urged residents to prepare for difficult conditions this winter.
The warnings come as Ukraine continues appealing to its Western partners for more Patriot interceptors, the only weapons capable of deterring Russian ballistic missiles, ahead of winter.
As of Oct. 15, Ukraine has reportedly exhausted all of its Patriot stocks. According to the source, almost none of the ballistic missiles in Russia’s massive attack overnight on Oct. 13-14 were intercepted.
The shortage comes at a particularly difficult moment for Kyiv, as tensions with Washington continue deepening.
On the same night, aerospace giant SpaceX tweaked the parameters and put restrictions on Ukraine’s Starshield terminals, the military version of the Starlink satellite network.
According to President Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday, Ukrainian units are still losing satellite connections above 130-160 km/h (81-100 mph) along various parts of the front.
The restrictions continue disrupting frontline logistics and limiting the use of several types of drones, including mid-strike drones and the interceptor drones Ukraine relies on against jet-powered Shahed drones.
On Oct. 14, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk claimed that the US military, including the US President Donald Trump himself, set speed limits on Starshield, not the company.
Trump rejected that account, claiming that he doesn’t know “if it was somebody, because it wasn’t me, and I don’t think it was Elon.”
With neither SpaceX nor the White House taking responsibility for the restrictions, frustration has grown in Washington, including within Trump’s own party.
Separately on Monday, US Representative Brian Fitzpatrick, a Pennsylvania Republican, threatened that anyone who tries to restrict Ukraine’s use of Starshield will face accountability – including a full investigation, public hearings and sharp budget cuts.