Zelenskyy Says Intelligence Points to Massive Russian Strike on Energy and Logistics Around US Midterms

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned in his evening address today, Nov. 2, that Russia is preparing a new mass attack aimed mainly at Ukraine's energy and logistics networks.

"We have intel that Russia is preparing a new massive attack on our country – primarily targeting energy and logistics," he said.

His reasoning is about timing. Americans vote Tuesday, Nov. 3, and Zelenskyy said Moscow is betting the world will be watching Washington. In his words, what is happening in Ukraine, "along with our difficulties with air defence and Patriot missiles, will be overlooked."

Russia has not responded to the claim. The intelligence behind it has not been made public, so the warning is Zelenskyy's assessment, not something independently confirmed.

Komyshuvakha: 26 dead at an aid site

The warning came hours after a strike on Komyshuvakha, a settlement in Zaporizhzhia region between the city of Zaporizhzhia and the front line.

Zelenskyy said Russia hit the town with at least 10 bombs. A first aerial bomb was followed by a "double-tap" of nine more, aimed at a shelter where people were taking cover. The site was a school where residents received humanitarian aid every week.

At least 26 people were killed, Ukrainian officials say. The State Emergency Service said four of the dead were police officers and two were rescue workers. Five people remain hospitalized, and rescuers were still searching.

"The Russians could not have been unaware that every week, local residents who had remained in Komyshuvakha received humanitarian aid at that very location," Zelenskyy said. Russian officials have not commented.

Moscow says it does not target civilians. Last week, the UN's Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine said Russian authorities had committed war crimes and crimes against humanity by attacking civilians and critical energy infrastructure.

The energy grid is already under fire

The grid is already taking hits. Russia struck four Ukrainian regions overnight into Sunday, and electricity was cut to hundreds of thousands of households, according to Zelenskyy. Kyiv had power outages of eight to 10 hours after a critical thermal power plant was damaged.

Zelenskyy said Russia is "seeking to maximally exploit the deficit of ballistic missile interceptors." He also said Moscow has adopted "a new tactic" of hitting not just generation plants but energy grids and distribution networks.

He called for economic pressure in return. "We must not play games with Russia's oil and gas revenues," he said. "America can do this, the world can do this."

Refinery strikes resume over Washington's objections

Ukraine is hitting Russian energy targets as well, against the wishes of the Trump administration.

Russian state media reported that Ukrainian long-range drones set the Kstovo refinery in Nizhny Novgorod oblast on fire overnight Sunday. That followed a major strike on a Rosneft-owned refinery in Samara oblast.

The Wall Street Journal had reported that Kyiv gave in to White House pressure to stop bombing Russian energy infrastructure. Ukrainian officials told the Kyiv Independent they never agreed to a demand from Jared Kushner, the president's son-in-law, for a 30-day pause on refinery strikes.

The Kremlin's position is that Kyiv is "simply ignoring" US wishes. It says the raids restarted Friday.

Zelenskyy has not publicly acknowledged the refinery hits. He said his forces struck a defense-industry plant in Russia's Rostov region that made missiles, and destroyed a Pantsir air defense system. He described those as part of Ukraine's "long-range sanctions." He insists Ukraine is "quite rightly responding to every Russian attack on our people and our cities."

The administration's pressure has a domestic edge. Trump has blamed Zelenskyy for the rise in global fuel prices, and last month he lifted US sanctions on Russian diesel. Lower energy costs before an election are a legitimate political goal. Ukraine's answer is that Russia keeps bombing its power system, so it will keep hitting Russia's fuel infrastructure.

War claims from Kyiv

Zelenskyy also said Russia suffered 54,400 military personnel killed and wounded in October, the highest monthly figure since the full-scale invasion began. He said Ukraine retook 96.2 square kilometers (37 square miles) last month, 10.4 more than Russia seized, and declared: "Russia is losing." These are Kyiv's own figures and have not been independently verified.

A short-lived pause in Oleshky

There was one bit of cooperation this week. A six-day local ceasefire in the Russian-occupied town of Oleshky, brokered by US First Lady Melania Trump, ran from Oct. 27 to Nov. 1. Hundreds of residents were reunited with loved ones in northern Ukraine, and both sides called the evacuation a success.

Ukraine's human rights ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets confirmed the ceasefire has ended. Zelenskyy said the Komyshuvakha killings undercut any momentum from that operation: "Russia is sending an entirely opposite signal."

What comes next

US-Ukraine-Russia talks, dormant since last winter, are expected to resume this month. Whether Russia launches the strike Zelenskyy is warning about before then, and how Washington responds, will set the terms of that negotiation. Zelenskyy has said Ukraine "will certainly respond."