KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia bombarded Ukraine with more than 300 drones and ballistic and cruise missiles in its latest nighttime attack on the Ukrainian power grid, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Tuesday, as Moscow gave no public signal that it was ready to end its neighbor’s invasion anytime soon.
The attack led to the heating of more than 5,600 apartment buildings in the capital, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said. Almost 80% of the affected buildings recently had their heating supply restored after a large Russian barrage on January 9 that threw thousands of people into blackouts for days, he said.
Ukraine is enduring one of its coldest winters for years, with temperatures in Kyiv dropping to minus 20 C (minus 4 F). At the same time, Russia has escalated its airstrikes on electricity supplies, aiming to deny Ukrainians heat and running water and wear down their resistance almost four years after Moscow launched its full-scale invasion on 24 February 2022.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian officials are trying to maintain the momentum of the US-led peace talks. A Ukrainian negotiation team arrived in the United States on Saturday. Their main task was to convey how relentless Russian attacks are undermining diplomacy, according to Zelenskyy.
The Ukrainian leader said last week that the delegation will also try to finalize with American officials documents for a proposed peace agreement that have to do with post-war security guarantees and economic recovery. If US officials approve the proposals, the US and Ukraine could sign the documents at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, this week, he said.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday that presidential envoy Kirill Dmitriev plans to meet with some US representatives in Davos.
He declined to name the officials Dmitriev will meet, but media reports said they will include US envoy Steve Witkoff and US President Donald Trump’s son, Jared Kushner.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said that his country needs urgent assistance and additional sanctions on Russia for Moscow to change course.
“The barbaric strike by Russian President Vladimir Putin this morning is a wake-up call for world leaders gathering in Davos,” Sybiha said on X.
UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk said he is outraged by repeated large-scale attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, which especially affect children, the elderly and the disabled.
The strikes “can only be described as cruel,” he said in Geneva. “They must stop. Targeting civilians and civilian infrastructure is a clear violation of the rules of war.”
Ukraine’s air force command said 27 missiles and 315 drones were downed or jammed, while five missiles and 24 drones hit 11 locations.
The constant attacks have stretched Ukraine’s air defenses and, according to Zelenskyy, some systems recently ran out of ammunition before a new shipment arrived.
He said late Monday that the air defenses are adopting a new approach, with the appointment of a new deputy commander of the air force, Pavlo Yelizarov.
“This system will be transformed,” he said, without providing details.
Ukraine relies on sophisticated air defense systems produced by Western countries, especially the United States, to thwart Russian missile and drone attacks.
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Dasha Litvinova in Tallinn, Estonia, and Geir Moulson in Berlin, contributed to this report.
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Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine