Russia bombards Ukraine with drones and missiles day before planned peace talks

Russia has carried out a major attack on Ukraine in what President Volodymyr Zelensky said was a breach of its commitment to hold off on attacks on energy infrastructure.

The attack happened a day before representatives of the two countries were due to attend US-brokered talks on ending the war.

The bombardment included hundreds of drones and a record 32 ballistic missiles, wounding at least 10 people.

It specifically took aim at the power grid, Mr Zelensky said, as part of what Ukraine says is Moscow’s ongoing campaign to deny civilians light, heating and running water during the coldest winter in years.

“Taking advantage of the coldest days of winter to terrorise people is more important to Russia than diplomacy,” Mr Zelensky said.

Temperatures in Kyiv fell to minus 20C during the night and stood at minus 16C on Tuesday.

Nato secretary-general Mark Rutte visited Kyiv in a show of support. He said that the overnight strikes raise doubts about Moscow’s intentions on the eve of talks, calling them “a really bad signal”.

He added it was clear that the attacks only strengthen Ukrainians’ resolve.

Officials have described recent talks between Moscow and Kyiv delegations as constructive.

But after a year of efforts, the Trump administration is still searching for a breakthrough on key issues such as who keeps the Ukrainian land that Russia’s army has occupied, and a comprehensive settlement appears distant.

The Abu Dhabi talks are scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday.

Mr Zelensky said Ukraine is ready to discuss how to end the fighting, but added: “No one is going to surrender.”

A Kremlin official said last week that Russia had agreed to halt strikes on Kyiv for a week until February 1 because of the freezing temperatures, following a personal request from US President Donald Trump to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

However, the bitter cold is continuing and so are Russia’s aerial attacks.

Mr Zelensky, however, accused Russia of breaking its commitment to hold off its attacks on Ukraine’s energy assets, claiming the week-long pause was due to come into force last Friday.

“We believe this Russian strike clearly violates what the American side discussed, and there must be consequences,” he said.

The bombardment of at least five regions of Ukraine comprised 450 long-range drones and 70 missiles, Ukrainian officials said.

Ukraine says Russia has tried to wear down Ukrainians’ appetite for the fight by creating hardship for the civilian population living in dark, freezing homes.

It has tried to wreck Ukraine’s electricity network, targeting substations, transformers, turbines and generators at power plants. Ukraine’s largest private power company, DTEK, said that the overnight attack hit its thermal power plants in the ninth major assault since October.

Mr Rutte addressed the Ukrainian parliament during his visit and said that countries in the military alliance “are ready to provide support quickly and consistently” as peace efforts drag on.

Since last summer, Nato members have provided 75% of all missiles, and 90% of those used for Ukraine’s air defence, under a financial arrangement whereby alliance countries buy American weapons to give to Ukraine, he said.

European countries, fearing Moscow’s ambitions, see their own future security as being on the line in Ukraine.

“Be assured that Nato stands with Ukraine and is ready to do so for years to come,” Mr Rutte said. “Your security is our security. Your peace is our peace. And it must be lasting.”

In Kyiv, officials said that five people were wounded in the strikes that damaged and set fire to residential buildings, a kindergarten and a petrol station in various parts of the capital, according to the State Emergency Service.

By early morning, 1,170 apartment buildings in the capital were without heating, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said. That set back desperate repair operations that had restored heat to all but 80 apartment buildings, he said.

Russia also struck Ukraine’s north-eastern Kharkiv region, where injuries were reported, and the southern Odesa region.

The attack also damaged the Hall of Fame at the National Museum of the History of Ukraine in the Second World War, at the foot of the Motherland Monument in Kyiv, Ukrainian culture minister Tetiana Berezhna said.

“It is symbolic and cynical at the same time: The aggressor state strikes a place of memory about the fight against aggression in the 20th century, repeating crimes in the 21st,” Ms Berezhna said.