KYIV, November 4 — Russian forces launched 130 attack drones and seven missiles at Ukraine early on Wednesday, November 4, with strikes damaging energy and port infrastructure in the southern Odesa region, Ukrainian military and regional officials reported, according to the Kyiv Post. It was the second consecutive night of Russian attacks on Ukraine's power system, after Tuesday's bombardment — the largest of the year — cut electricity across much of the country.
Source: Kyiv Post, November 4
According to the Ukrainian Air Force, Russia fired one Iskander-M ballistic missile from the Rostov region and six S-300 surface-to-air missiles in a ground-attack role from the Kursk region, alongside 130 attack drones, about 80 of them Shaheds. The drones were launched from Russia's Kursk, Oryol and Primorsko-Akhtarsk areas and from Cape Chauda in Russian-occupied Crimea. Ukraine's air defences shot down or electronically suppressed 92 of the drones across the northern, southern and eastern parts of the country, the Air Force said, while the strikes hit 14 locations.
Source: Ukrainian Air Force via Kyiv Post, November 4
Odesa's ports and power grid take two waves
The Odesa region came under two waves of Russian drone attacks overnight, damaging civilian, energy and port facilities, regional Governor Oleh Kiper said. “The enemy once again massively attacked the energy and port infrastructure of Odesa region,” he wrote. The strikes triggered fires and damaged road surfaces, industrial buildings and equipment. Kiper reported no deaths or injuries and said the strikes had not caused electricity outages in the region. Ukraine's Energy Ministry separately confirmed that Russian strikes had damaged energy facilities in the Odesa region and that emergency repair crews were working on the affected infrastructure.
Source: Governor Oleh Kiper and Ukraine Energy Ministry via Kyiv Post, November 4
Tuesday's attack, reported by this desk on November 3, was one of the largest of the war: President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Russia launched 289 drones, 17 ballistic missiles and 59 cruise missiles at power plants and substations from Odesa in the south to Rivne in the west, and Ukraine's largest private energy firm, DTEK, halted production at three of its five thermal power plants. The same day's strikes also killed at least 33 people at a school used as an aid-distribution point in Komyshuvakha, Zaporizhzhia region. Wednesday's rounds were smaller — but they kept the same target list: power generation, the grid and the Black Sea ports Ukraine's exports depend on. Read first: Russia's energy barrage knocks out power across Ukraine — 289 drones and 76 missiles
Wednesday: power stations in Kyiv and Zhytomyr, a cargo vessel near Odesa
The attacks did not stop with the overnight wave. On Wednesday, Russia hit two power stations in Ukraine's Kyiv and Zhytomyr regions, the Russian defence ministry said on Telegram, keeping up nearly daily strikes on its neighbour's energy facilities amid falling temperatures, Reuters reported. The same strikes also targeted a cargo vessel at sea near Odesa. Elsewhere in Ukraine, Russia hit the regions of Poltava, Dnipro, Kirovohrad and Rivne in addition to the capital, Kyiv, Ukraine's emergency service and local officials said in statements.
Source: Reuters, November 4
The war also touched Russian-held and Russian territory on Wednesday. Russia-held Crimea ordered power cuts after what a Moscow-installed official described as an accident outside the region, the cause of which was not immediately clear, and a drone attack near the southern Russian city of Krasnodar, next to Crimea, set fire to a logistics hub of the Russian retailer Ozon, Reuters reported. Both neighbours deny deliberately targeting civilians in the war that began with Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Source: Reuters, November 4
Abu Dhabi talks on November 10-11, and the National Unity Day warning
The strikes land a week before US-brokered peace talks are set to resume: US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff has said American, Russian and Ukrainian officials will hold working-level trilateral negotiations in Abu Dhabi on November 10 and 11, and a European Commission coordination meeting in Brussels on November 4 brought together Ukraine, the United States, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, NATO and the World Bank. President Zelenskiy has called for a ceasefire, including a halt to attacks on energy infrastructure, as a first step. Reuters also noted the timing on the Russian side: last month a Kremlin aide said Moscow's attitude to the three-way talks would depend in part on whether Ukraine launched a large-scale attack on Russia's National Unity Day, the public holiday observed on November 4 — the day the Krasnodar drone strike and the Crimea power cuts occurred.
Source: Reuters, November 4; Kyiv Post, November 4
What is solid
- Russia launched 130 attack drones and seven missiles overnight on November 4, and air defences downed or suppressed 92 drones — Ukrainian Air Force via Kyiv Post
- Two drone waves damaged energy and port infrastructure in Odesa region, with fires and no reported deaths, injuries or power outages there — Governor Oleh Kiper; damage to energy facilities confirmed by Ukraine's Energy Ministry
- Russia hit two power stations in Kyiv and Zhytomyr regions on Wednesday and targeted a cargo vessel near Odesa — Russian defence ministry via Reuters
- Tuesday's earlier bombardment (289 drones, 17 ballistic and 59 cruise missiles) knocked out power across swathes of Ukraine — Reuters, November 3
What is only claimed
- The cargo vessel targeted near Odesa: Russia's defence ministry says it was struck; no independent confirmation of the vessel's identity, flag or damage had been published when this report was filed
- The Crimea power cuts: a Moscow-installed official attributed them to an 'accident' outside the region; the cause was not immediately clear — Reuters
- Overnight strike figures come from the Ukrainian Air Force and Ukrainian officials; Russia has not published its own account of the overnight wave
What happens next
What happens next turns on the grid and the talks table. Ukraine's repair crews are racing falling temperatures: every night of strikes on generation and substations makes the winter harder, which is the pressure Moscow's energy campaign is designed to build before the Abu Dhabi meetings on November 10-11. Kyiv's answer so far has been to keep hitting Russian energy and logistics — the Yaroslavl refinery fire on Tuesday and Wednesday's Krasnodar hub fire are part of that pattern — while Zelenskiy publicly offers an energy ceasefire as the first step. Whether either side pauses before Abu Dhabi, and whether the Brussels coordination meeting produces new air-defence deliveries, are the two things to watch this week.