Thousands in Kyiv without power after massive Russian attack

A third of the residents of Ukraine’s capital, Kiev, were without power after Russia carried out “massive bombing” of residential areas and critical infrastructure overnight, Ukraine’s foreign minister said.

Andrii Sybiha said residents had no heating due to cold winter temperatures.

According to Ukraine’s national emergency services, the attack killed at least one person and injured 28 others.

The attack occurred hours before Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky set off for Florida, where he will meet with Donald Trump for peace talks on Sunday.

The Russian Defense Ministry said it had launched “large-scale retaliatory strikes” against Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.

It said it used long-range, land-based, air-based and sea-based precision weapons to target the facilities, which it claimed were used “in the interest of the Ukrainian Armed Forces and enterprises of the Ukrainian military-industrial complex.”

After the attack, Zelensky reiterated that Russia “does not want to end the war and is trying to use every opportunity to cause more pain to Ukraine.”

Zelensky wrote on Telegram that Russia sent nearly 500 drones and 40 missiles to Kiev, targeting energy and civilian infrastructure.

Pictures showed large holes in apartment buildings and houses on fire after the attack.

BBC journalist Anastasiya Gribanova’s apartment building was attacked and some homes on the upper floors of the high-rise building caught fire. Gribanova was in the building’s elevator and was not injured.

Ukraine’s state emergency service said 68 people were evacuated from a nursing home in the eastern Darnitsky region.

“Russian representatives are having a long dialogue, but in reality it is the Daggers (missiles) and the Shahds (drones) who are speaking for them,” Zelensky wrote in the cable. He said Vladimir Putin did not want the war to end.

“Only truly strong measures can be taken to counter this pathological activity. The United States has this opportunity, Europe has this opportunity, and many of our partners have this opportunity,” he wrote, urging allies to show strength and stand up to Russian aggression.

Poland, which shares a 530-kilometer (320-mile) border with western Ukraine, prepared fighter jets, ground-based air defense systems and radar reconnaissance for the attack.

The Polish Armed Forces said the move was “aimed at securing and protecting airspace, especially in areas adjacent to threatened areas”.

Later on Saturday morning it concluded that there was no violation of the country’s airspace.

Meanwhile, the Russian Defense Ministry said its air defense systems destroyed seven Ukrainian drones overnight.

On Saturday, Zelensky, EU leaders and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen are expected to hold a conference call to discuss the path to peace.

Zelensky’s new 20-point draft is a revised version of the previous 28-point plan, which was drafted by U.S. envoy Steve Witkov but widely viewed as too favorable to Russia.

Ukraine’s president expressed optimism about new draft, calling it “a foundational document to end the war,” but Trump warned Zelenskyy had “nothing until I approve it.” In an interview with Politico.

The draft reportedly includes security guarantees from the United States, NATO and European allies to coordinate a military response if Russia invades Ukraine again.

Control of Donbass in eastern Ukraine has so far been a sticking point in negotiations, but Zelensky now says a “free economic zone” could be an option.

Trump told Politico he expected to see a new draft on Sunday.

“I think it’s going to go very well for him. I think it’s going to go very well for (Vladimir) Putin,” Trump said in the interview, adding that he hoped to speak with the Russian president “very soon.”