Ukraine Power Plant Under Siege as Blackouts Hit 20 Hours in Kyiv

The BBC's Ukraine correspondent Dan Johnson got inside a front-line Ukrainian power station that took a direct ballistic missile hit. Repair crews are trying to patch it up while air raids roll in roughly every hour. The dispatch lands as peace talks between Ukraine and Russia grind on in the background.

Russia's intensified attacks on Ukraine's energy grid have forced a rolling schedule of planned power cuts across the country. Officials fear life becomes unsustainable for millions of Ukrainians if supplies can't be held for at least four hours a day — and some warn privately that the country is close to that line already.

In Kyiv, the squeeze is already brutal for some households, where outages stretch up to 20 hours. That is the reality behind the repair work at the battered plant: a grid that keeps getting hit faster than crews can rebuild it.

Ukraine hasn't taken the strikes lying down. It has responded by hitting Russian oil refineries, opening a second front in the energy war while diplomats keep talking.