Kherson blackouts and Kyiv drone strikes, December 2023

What did Russian strikes on civilian areas look like in late December 2023? On 27 December 2023, Russian drone and artillery attacks killed at least five people in Kherson and cut power to around 70% of households in the city, according to Kherson governor Oleksandr Prokudin.

The Kherson attack came five days after a mass Russian drone attack on Kyiv on 22 December 2023. That attack struck several residential districts of the capital. A block of flats was damaged in Solomianskyi District, injuring at least two people, and heavy damage was reported in Holosiivskyi District.

A pattern of strikes on infrastructure

The two reports describe different cities and different weapons mix, but both involve strikes on places where civilians live. In Kherson, the immediate consequences were deaths and widespread outages. In Kyiv, the reported consequences were injuries and damaged housing.

Taken together, the reports show that in the last week of 2023 the effects of Russian strikes reached both a frontline city and the capital. They also show that the damage was measured in lost power and damaged homes as well as casualties.