Help reached Ukraine just in time as Russia struck nuclear facilities

Russian strikes were designed to deliver a decisive blow at a moment when Ukraine’s air defenses were expected to be nearly exhausted. Moscow focused on mass attacks against key grid nodes, assuming Ukrainian interceptor stocks were too low to mount effective resistance. However, last-minute deliveries of air defense ammunition from European partners restored limited interception capability. This allowed Ukraine to defend the small number of transmission links whose destruction would have split the power system. While the attacks caused widespread damage and blackouts, they failed to trigger a system-level collapse. As a result, the grid remains operational, though with almost no remaining buffer against future strikes.

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