Saturday 24 / January / 2026
Kyiv: The Russian missile and drone attacks on Ukraine in the early hours of Saturday have left more 1.2 million properties without power across the country amid freezing winter temperatures, Ukrainian officials say.
More than 800,000 people in Kyiv and another 400,000 in the northern region of Chernihiv were without power after the latest attacks, Deputy Prime Minister Oleksiy Kuleba said.
Nearly 6,000 buildings in the capital were left without heating on Saturday morning as the city experiences temperatures of around -10 C (14 F).
This comes on the heels of previous attacks that have already disrupted the city’s centralized heat distribution system, meaning that many apartments have been deprived of warmth for some time.
Russia has stepped up a strategy of attacking Ukraine’s energy system that it has pursued since the start of its full-scale invasion in February 2022, a strategy that is seen by Kyiv as a bid to demoralise the population.
Kyiv slams ‘another night of Russian terror’ amid UAE peace talks
Ukraine’s foreign minister has denounced the overnight missile and drone strikes by Russian forces, saying they had “hit not only our people but also the negotiation table” as teams from the US, Ukraine and Russia are set to meet for a second day in Abu Dhabi to discuss a way to end Moscow’s invasion of its neighbour.
“Peace efforts? Trilateral meeting in the UAE? Diplomacy? For Ukrainians, this was another night of Russian terror,” Andriy Sybiha wrote on X.
“Cynically, [Russian President Vladimir] Putin ordered a brutal massive missile strike against Ukraine right while delegations are meeting in Abu Dhabi to advance the America-led peace process. His missiles hit not only our people, but also the negotiation table,” he wrote.
“This barbaric attack once again proves that Putin’s place is not at the board of peace, but at the dock of the special tribunal,” he added, referring to the new organisation established by US President Donald Trump, in which the Russian president has been invited to take part.
Ukraine’s chief negotiator Rustem Umerov has said the discussions in Abu Dhabi have focused “on the parameters for ending Russia’s war and the further logic of the negotiation process.”
A major stumbling block in the negotiations remains Moscow’s insistence that Kyiv withdraw troops even from parts of the eastern Donbas region that remain under Ukrainian control.
The war unleashed by Russia’s full-scale invasion launched in February 2022 has killed tens of thousands, displaced millions and devastated several parts of Ukraine.
Zelenskyy calls for more air defence systems following attacks
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has called on allies to continue supplying air defense systems after overnight attacks by Russian forces killed at least one person and injured dozens of others.
“Overnight, Russia carried out a massive attack on our regions, launching over 370 attack drones and 21 missiles of various types. Kyiv and the region, as well as the Sumy, Kharkiv, and Chernihiv regions, were targeted,” Zelenskyy wrote on messaging app X.
While expressing condolences to the family and loved ones of the person who was killed and gratitude to emergency workers, Zelenskyy said such strikes “must be met with a strong response.”
“We are counting on the reaction and assistance of all our partners. Every missile for Patriot, NASAMS, and all other systems helps protect critical infrastructure and enables people to endure the winter cold,” he wrote.
“We must ensure full implementation of everything agreed with [US] President [Donald] Trump in Davos regarding air defense,” he added, without providing detail on those agreements.
Zelenskyy met with Trump on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos on Thursday, with the Ukrainian leader saying agreement had been reached on postwar security guarantees for his country at the meeting.
Second round of Abu Dhabi talks ends, sources tell news agencies
Meanwhile, a second day of talks in the UAE on a peace plan for Ukraine between US, Ukrainian and Russian teams has ended, according to a Ukrainian negotiator’s spokesperson cited by AFP news agency.
Reuters news agency has also cited a source familiar with the matter as saying negotiations had concluded for a second day.
No details of what was discussed have so far been released, but previous reports have suggested that territorial issues have been at the focus of the talks, with Russia insisting that Ukraine withdraw its troops from parts of the eastern Donbas region that Moscow does not control.
Kyiv has so far rejected such demands.
The talks in Abu Dhabi are the first official meetings between the two warring parties for several months.
