Russia’s Blackout Warfare Needs a U.S. Counter

This campaign is creating a blueprint for how modern great powers will try to cripple one another in future conflicts. Allied countries must therefore treat assisting Ukraine’s grid defense not as charity, but as an investment in their own future electricity security, which underpins so many critical dimensions of modern life. Backroom deals will not end this war, but learning how to better defend Ukraine’s electricity will set the foundation for a durable future peace.

Russia is no longer simply attacking Ukraine’s grid; it is field-testing a strategy of blackout warfare. As it unleashes thousands of drones and hundreds of missiles per month across Ukraine, Moscow now combines strikes on power plants and hard-to-replace high-voltage transformers as well as and destruction of natural gas systems all the way down to the city level. The impacts are stark: families shivering in the dark, schools interrupted, hospitals trying to deliver lifesaving care with generator power and limited water, and industry starving for electrons.

Russia is no longer simply attacking Ukraine’s grid; it is field-testing a strategy of blackout warfare. As it unleashes thousands of drones and hundreds of missiles per month across Ukraine, Moscow now combines strikes on power plants and hard-to-replace high-voltage transformers as well as and destruction of natural gas systems all the way down to the city lev