Weaponizing Winter: Russia Defends Attacks on Ukraine’s Energy Grid

Russia Exploits Winter Cold in Ukraine with Strikes on Energy Infrastructure

Russian forces have intensified attacks on Ukraine’s critical energy facilities during the bitter winter months, causing widespread power outages as temperatures plummet to dangerous lows. Security experts view this strategy as a calculated attempt to break Ukrainian resistance through civilian suffering rather than battlefield victories.

On January 9, Russia launched a massive missile and drone assault targeting energy facilities in Kyiv and surrounding areas, severely compromising heating systems across the capital. By January 14, temperatures in Kyiv plunged to -17 degrees Celsius (1.4 degrees Fahrenheit), with large portions of the city left without electricity. The situation prompted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to declare an energy sector emergency on January 15.

Ukrainian officials report that Russia has significantly escalated these infrastructure strikes compared to previous winters. One Ukrainian official characterized the intensified campaign as “an attempt to break people” by exploiting the extreme cold. Despite these hardships, many Kyiv residents remain defiant. As one resident told reporters, “It’s a very difficult situation, but better to live in the cold and dark than under a Russian flag.”

While Ukrainian repair crews have restored power to many areas, the pattern of targeted attacks continues, creating a cycle of destruction and emergency repairs that strains the country’s resources and resilience.

Meanwhile, the Kremlin has deployed a sophisticated disinformation campaign to justify these attacks, using what experts classify as foreign information manipulation and interference (FIMI) tactics. The propaganda effort aims to shift blame for civilian suffering from Moscow to Kyiv, claiming Ukrainian leadership is responsible for the hardships by continuing to resist Russian demands.

Pro-Russian media outlets frequently minimize or entirely omit mention of Russian missiles and drones as the cause of power outages. Instead, they frame the situation as a consequence of Ukrainian leadership’s refusal to accept Russian peace terms. One pro-Russian commentator expressed sympathy for Kyiv residents while asserting that “the leadership of the Kiev regime… do not want to end this war,” suggesting civilian suffering is a necessary cost in the fight against what was described as “this nationalist, khaki-coloured machine.”

Other Russian sources attempt to depoliticize the attacks by referring to them as technical problems requiring technical solutions, with one Russian energy expert claiming, “A complete solution to the problems can be only after the end of the military crisis.” This framing deliberately obscures Russia’s active role in creating and perpetuating the crisis.

More direct messaging celebrates the attacks. Following a January 12 strike with Iskander missiles, a Russian general boasted that damaged Ukrainian energy facilities “are all involved in providing for the military-industrial complex,” adding that “in winter conditions, these facilities become critical when heat, water, electricity are turned off.” The general explicitly articulated the strategy’s intent: “Let the people decide for themselves whether they need this conflict… when there is no opportunity to turn on the light or cook food.”

Pro-Russian outlets also closely monitor and amplify any signs that Ukrainian resilience might be weakening. Western media reporting on Ukrainians’ daily struggles is frequently distorted or reframed to suggest growing support for territorial concessions among the Ukrainian population.

This weaponization of winter suffering follows earlier Russian tactics that exploited food insecurity and disrupted essential services. The strategy reveals Moscow’s willingness to target civilian infrastructure as a central component of its war effort when conventional military operations fail to achieve desired outcomes.