Russia attacks energy installations in Ukrainian cities amid freezing cold

Hind Al Soulia - Riyadh - KYIV — Russian forces attacked energy infrastructure in Ukraine's capital Kyiv and its second-largest city Kharkiv early Tuesday, according to Ukrainian officials.

The attacks, which injured at least four people, came as Russian and Ukrainian officials prepare to meet for a new round of US-brokered talks in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday.

‍Russia ‍attacked with 450 drones and more than 60 ⁠missiles overnight, ​Ukraine’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrii ‍Sybiha said on Tuesday, accusing ‍Moscow of having waited for temperatures to drop before renewing its targeting of energy infrastructure amid brutal subzero conditions.

“Neither anticipated diplomatic efforts ​in ‌Abu Dhabi this week nor [Putin’s] promises to ‌the United States ‌kept him ⁠from continuing terror against ordinary people in the ‌harshest winter,” Sybiha wrote on social media.

In Kyiv, nighttime temperatures dipped close to -20 degrees Celsius (-4 degrees F). Reuters reported loud explosions in the city after midnight, saying both missiles and drones were being deployed.

In Kharkiv, the strikes caused damage in five districts, hitting three apartment blocks and a building housing a kindergarten, Mayor Tymur Tkachenko said on the Telegram messaging app.

Flames consumed an apartment on the upper floors of a Kyiv block in videos posted on social media. An air raid alert stayed in effect for more than five hours.

A series of massive attacks on the capital since New Year's Day have knocked out power and heating to hundreds of apartment blocks and emergency crews were still trying to restore heating systems on Monday.

Terekhov said the attacks targeted energy infrastructure and called for tough decisions to keep heating systems from freezing.

As a result of the attacks, officials had to cut heating to 820 buildings to drain coolant in order to prevent the wider network from freezing, Terekhov said.

"The goal is obvious: to cause maximum destruction and leave the city without heat in severe cold," he wrote on Telegram.

On Monday, President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia had not targeted Ukrainian energy infrastructure with missile or drone strikes in the previous 24 hours, but steady Russian shelling hit energy facilities near the front line.

At least two people were wounded in the capital and two others in Kharkiv amid the barrage on Tuesday, officials said.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali ⁠Klitschko ​said 1,170 ‍residential buildings ⁠in the capital were left ​without ‌heating as temperatures dropped to -17 degrees Celsius (1.4 degrees Fahrenheit).

According to unconfirmed media reports, two thermal power plants in the capital were hit.

Russian attacks on energy infrastructure in recent weeks have knocked out heating and power to hundreds of residential blocks in Kyiv and other cities across Ukraine.

Public broadcaster Suspilne said the attacks had knocked out power in the towns of Izyum and Balakliya in Kharkiv region, and struck two apartment buildings in the ⁠northern city of Sumy.

Ivan Fedorov, military administrator in the southeastern city of Zaporizhzhia, said on Telegram that a 38-year-old woman had been killed in a drone attack in a suburb.

Trump had announced on Thursday that Russian President Vladimir Putin had agreed to his personal request to halt attacks on “Kyiv and various towns” amid the bitterly cold winter weather.

Moscow said it had agreed to the request, but said the truce would last only until Sunday, and did not link the measure to the freezing temperatures.

Kyiv, which had welcomed the move, said the truce was supposed to continue for a week from January 30, but reported that Moscow had kept up its attacks anyway. — Agencies

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