Russian drone attack on bus in Ukraine kills at least 12

Power outages impacted Ukraine and Moldova, exacerbating winter conditions in Kyiv on Saturday, January 30, 2026. The outages were widespread across several Ukrainian cities and neighboring Moldova. According to Ukraine’s Energy Minister Denys Shmyhal, a technical malfunction affecting power lines linking Ukraine and Moldova caused the disruption. This failure triggered a cascading outage in Ukraine’s power grid. The Kremlin has committed to U.S. President Donald Trump to pause strikes on Kyiv.

A technical malfunction on Saturday caused the failure of key electricity lines connecting Ukraine with Moldova and Romania, leading to mass power outages across Ukraine. The incident, which occurred at 10:42 am, affected both the 400-kilovolt line between Romania and Moldova and the 750-kilovolt line between western and central Ukraine. The outages disrupted water supplies in Kyiv and forced the shutdown of the city's metro system, impacting transportation for many residents. Ukraine's Energy Minister Denys Shmyhal stated that power restoration efforts were underway and expected to be completed within hours. President Zelensky called the event an emergency and emphasized the need to quickly stabilize the situation.

As temperatures in Ukraine are forecast to plummet below -20C this weekend, Ukrainians face a dire situation due to ongoing Russian attacks on the country's power grid. Many, like Yulia in Dnipro, have been without central heating since January, relying on makeshift methods to stay warm. While Donald Trump announced a week-long halt to attacks on major cities, the Kremlin clarified the pause ends Sunday, coinciding with the coldest weather. There has been no major strike since January 24th, but it is unclear whether Russia has actually paused anything. The repeated targeting of Ukraine's energy infrastructure, a violation of the Geneva Convention, has left it increasingly fragile and difficult to repair, raising concerns about a humanitarian catastrophe.

The UN's nuclear watchdog, the IAEA, held a special session in Vienna on January 30, 2026, to address growing concerns about nuclear safety risks in Ukraine due to Russian attacks on energy infrastructure. IAEA Director-General Rafael Grossi warned that the war poses the world's biggest threat to nuclear safety, as Ukrainian nuclear plants rely on external power from substations for reactor cooling, even when shut down. The meeting followed an IAEA inspection of 10 crucial electrical substations. While Ukraine has four nuclear plants, the Zaporizhzhia plant, occupied by Russian forces, is of particular concern as it requires constant power for cooling and security. The meeting, requested by the Netherlands and supported by other countries, aimed to increase pressure on Russia to avoid actions that could lead to a nuclear accident.