Russian forces hammered Ukraine's electrical and gas infrastructure on Feb. 9 with a coordinated wave of 34 missiles and 339 drones, knocking out power for tens of thousands of civilians already enduring brutal winter conditions. The strikes targeted facilities across Zaporizhzhia, Kherson, Kharkiv, and Donetsk — a systematic escalation designed not to win territory but to break a civilian population through darkness and cold.

As reported by Military.com, the barrage followed a punishing stretch of attacks that killed nine civilians, injured more than 50, and forced the evacuation of more than 1,300 residents from the Donetsk region — 170 of them children. British officials reported that 537 drones had already targeted Ukrainian cities and energy facilities over the four previous nights. Temperatures have plunged to approximately minus 20 degrees Celsius.

This is what an energy war looks like. And while Europe writes checks and NATO issues condemnations, the most conspicuous silence belongs to Washington.

A campaign against civilians, not soldiers

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, in public remarks earlier this month, laid out the nature of the strikes plainly:

"We have seen last night again, hundreds of drones and tens of missiles hitting Ukraine, and particularly now hitting the civilian infrastructure, innocent civilians."

He added that the strikes had "nothing to do with the combat on the front line." That distinction matters. Russia isn't targeting military positions with these barrages — it's targeting power plants, substations, gas facilities, and the thermal infrastructure that keeps people alive in winter. The Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, Europe's largest with six reactors, sits in the middle of this battlefield.

An earlier wave — 67 missiles and 194 drones in a single overnight barrage — set the tempo. Between Jan. 16 and Jan. 19, strikes hit Kharkiv, Dnipro, Chernihiv, Donetsk, Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, and Sumy. Damage at the Darnytsia Thermal Power Plant in Kyiv was documented as recently as Feb. 4. The pattern is unmistakable: Russia is prosecuting a war of attrition against Ukraine's ability to keep the lights on and the heat running.

On Feb. 8, veterans of Ukraine's 3rd Separate Assault Brigade served free hot meals to residents in a Kyiv neighborhood. That image — soldiers feeding civilians because the grid can't warm them — captures the situation more honestly than any diplomatic communiqué.

Europe responds with euros and rhetoric

The European Union has committed substantial resources to keeping Ukraine's energy infrastructure from total collapse:

• More than 1.2 billion euros (~$1.3 billion) in humanitarian assistance
• 927 million euros (~$1 billion) mobilized for emergency gas purchases through the Ukraine Facility and a Norwegian grant
• 160,000 tons of generators, heating appliances, and solid fuels delivered through the EU Civil Protection Mechanism

The United Kingdom announced 20 million euros for urgent grid repairs on Jan. 16.

EU spokesperson Anitta Hipper did not mince words when she provided a statement to Military.com:

"Russia alone bears responsibility for continuing the war of aggression against Ukraine and could bring it to an end immediately by ceasing its aggression."

"Europe will not let Russia freeze Ukraine into submission."

Strong language. But the fundamental question remains whether euros for generators constitute a strategy or simply a tourniquet. Every repair crew that patches a substation is working against a clock — Russia can launch another wave faster than Europe can ship another generator. President Zelenskyy has pressed allies for additional Patriot air defense systems, the one asset that might actually change the equation by intercepting missiles before they reach their targets rather than cleaning up afterward.

The U.N. responded with its familiar institutional language. Spokesperson Farhan Haq told Military.com that the secretary-general "condemns all attacks on civilian infrastructure by any party." The phrase "by any party" is doing a lot of diplomatic heavy lifting in a conflict where one party is launching 339 drones at power plants and the other party is trying to keep its hospitals heated.

The calculus of energy warfare

Russia has calculated that destroying Ukraine's energy grid is cheaper and more effective than winning battles on the front line. Every missile that knocks out a substation does more to erode Ukrainian morale and Western resolve than a dozen infantry engagements. The strategy is elegant in its cruelty — you don't need to occupy a city if you can make it uninhabitable.

The West's response so far has been reactive: money after the damage, condemnations after the strikes, repairs after the destruction. The cycle repeats because nothing in the current posture deters the next wave. Stoltenberg acknowledged that sustained allied air defense support remains critical, but acknowledgment is not delivery.

What this conflict needs is not more humanitarian euros but a strategic framework that imposes costs on the attacks themselves — whether through air defense systems that make the barrages untenable or through pressure that changes Moscow's calculus. Generators don't deter missiles. Patriot batteries do.

Darkness as a weapon

Russia began targeting Ukraine's power plants, substations, and gas facilities in the early months of the invasion. What started as opportunistic strikes has become a deliberate, systematic campaign timed to winter — when the consequences of losing power shift from inconvenience to lethality. The targeting of gas infrastructure alongside electrical facilities confirms the intent: this isn't collateral damage from a military campaign. It's the campaign.

More than 1,300 people were evacuated from Donetsk in four days. One hundred and seventy children, among them. Nine dead, more than 50 wounded — and that was before the Feb. 9 barrage, whose toll has not yet been fully reported.

Europe says it won't let Russia freeze Ukraine into submission. The question is whether anyone is prepared to do more than keep the space heaters coming while the grid burns down around them.