Authorities say a third of Kyiv is without heating after a deadly Russian drone and missile barrage on the Ukrainian capital cut off power supplies, leaving hundreds of thousands of people facing freezing temperatures. The attack, which reportedly killed at least one person and wounded two dozen others, prompted nearby Poland to scramble fighter jets and close civilian airports. <\/p>\n
By Stefan J. Bos\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n
The strikes came just hours before Ukraine\u2019s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was to hold talks with European and U.S. leaders on how to end the war with Russia.<\/p>\n
Many residents spent much of the night sheltering underground as hundreds of Russian drones and missiles rained down on Kyiv.<\/p>\n
President Zelenskyy said Moscow launched nearly 500 drones and about 40 missiles, including ballistic missiles, in one of the heaviest overnight attacks in weeks.<\/p>\n
\n Listen to Stefan Bos’ report\n <\/p>\n
The attacks prompted nearby Poland to scramble fighter jets and close civilian airports in Rzeszow and Lublin amid fears Russia could violate its airspace too.\u00a0<\/p>\n
However, Zelenskyy said the primary targets were Kyiv\u2019s energy facilities and civilian infrastructure, leaving about a third of the city without heating as winter temperatures plunge below freezing.<\/p>\n
He stressed that the strikes showed that international pressure on Russia remains insufficient \u2014 accusing Moscow of turning, in his words, \u201cChristmas and the New Year into a time of destroyed homes, burned apartments, and ruined power plants.\u201d<\/p>\n
The bombardment earlier hit other cities, including Kharkiv, causing casualties among civilians.<\/p>\n
Baby among victims\u00a0 <\/p>\n
Kharkiv\u2019s medical emergency chief, Viktor Zabashta, says a nine-month-old baby and his mother were among those injured. \u201cThere is a nine-month-old child with a head injury,\u201d he said, his voice trembling. \u201cTogether with his mother, they were taken to one of the city\u2019s hospitals.\u201d<\/p>\n
The overnight assault lasted around ten hours, killing at least one person and wounding more than two dozen others, according to Ukrainian officials.<\/p>\n
The strikes came just hours before a scheduled call between Zelenskyy and European leaders \u2014 part of a renewed diplomatic push toward a possible peace deal.<\/p>\n
Zelenskyy is also expected to travel to Florida for a face-to-face meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump, who says he wants to end nearly four years of fighting that has killed or wounded more than one million people.<\/p>\n
Trump has accused both Russia and Ukraine of failing to take sincere steps toward peace.<\/p>\n
Territory remains sensitive issue\u00a0 <\/p>\n
A demand that Ukraine give up territory remains the central diplomatic stumbling block.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But Zelenskyy said a 20-point draft peace framework, backed by the United States, \u201cis 90 percent complete.\u201d<\/p>\n
He added that a security-guarantees agreement with Washington is nearly ready \u2014 though Trump cautioned that nothing is final until he signs off.<\/p>\n
For now, as diplomacy accelerates, Ukrainians remain braced for more attacks \u2014 and more nights without heat.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Authorities say a third of Kyiv is without heating after a deadly Russian drone and missile barrage on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":658080,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7655],"tags":[5293,299,332,657,49,771],"class_list":{"0":"post-658079","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-russia","8":"tag-diplomacy","9":"tag-europe","10":"tag-russia","11":"tag-ukraine","12":"tag-united-states","13":"tag-war"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115792388145292420","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/658079","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=658079"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/658079\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/658080"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=658079"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=658079"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=658079"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}