Russia renews large-scale strikes on Ukraine amid freezing conditions

Russia launched its “most powerful” assault of the year on Ukraine’s already crippled energy infrastructure overnight, Kyiv said Tuesday, cutting heating to hundreds of thousands as temperatures plunged ahead of talks aimed at ending the four-year war.

The strikes came as the country endured its coldest weather since Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022. Two teenagers were killed in the southern city of Zaporizhzhia, while a Soviet-era World War II monument was damaged.

The barrage took place a day before Ukrainian and Russian delegations were set to meet for a second round of US-brokered negotiations in Abu Dhabi.

“Taking advantage of the coldest days of winter to terrorise people is more important to Russia than diplomacy,” President Volodymyr Zelensky said, accusing Moscow of once again ignoring US efforts.

US President Donald Trump urged Russian leader Vladimir Putin to “end the war”, saying he would like Moscow to extend a temporary pause in attacks because of the extreme cold.

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, speaking during a visit to Kyiv, said the overnight strikes “do not signal seriousness about peace”. Air raid sirens sounded across the capital during his visit.

AFP reporters heard explosions across Kyiv overnight, and residents in hundreds of buildings woke up without heating as temperatures dropped close to minus 20°C. More than 1,100 residential buildings were still without heat late Tuesday, Restoration Minister Oleksiy Kuleba said.

Standing near a damaged building coated in ice and debris, resident Anastasia Grytsenko said: “Our windows are broken and we have no heating. We don’t know what to do.”

Russia’s defence ministry confirmed it had carried out “a massive strike” targeting Ukraine’s military-industrial facilities and energy infrastructure. The Kremlin had agreed last week to a US request not to strike Kyiv for seven days, a pause that ended on Sunday.

Energy Minister Denys Shmygal said Russia used ballistic and cruise missiles as well as drones to hit high-rise buildings and thermal power plants, deliberately leaving “hundreds of thousands of families, including children,” without heat during severe frost.

Ukraine’s largest private energy provider described the attack as the most powerful since the start of 2026. The air force said Russia fired 71 missiles and 450 attack drones. Six people were wounded in Kyiv.

In Zaporizhzhia, a drone strike killed two teenagers and injured at least 11 others. The base of Kyiv’s towering Motherland statue was also damaged, prompting Culture Minister Tetyana Berezhna to call the strike “symbolic and cynical”.

Strikes also hit Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, temporarily cutting heating to around 100,000 subscribers as temperatures fell to minus 23°C. Authorities shut off heating to more than 800 homes to prevent the system from freezing.

Meanwhile, Russian-installed authorities in southern Ukraine said Ukrainian shelling killed three people in Nova Kakhovka, a town seized by Russian forces early in the 2022 invasion.

The United States continues to push for a settlement after an initial round of talks last month failed to make progress. A second round is due to begin Wednesday in Abu Dhabi, with territory expected to dominate discussions. Russia has demanded Ukraine withdraw from Donetsk and has warned it will seek to seize more territory by force if diplomacy collapses.