Russia pounds Ukrainian energy facilities before peace talks

(Reuters)

KYIV, Feb 3 – Russia pounded Ukrainian energy facilities with hundreds of drones and dozens of missiles on Tuesday, knocking out heating to hundreds of thousands of families in freezing temperatures a day before new peace talks, Ukrainian officials said.

The capital Kyiv and Ukraine’s second biggest city, Kharkiv, came under fire in overnight airstrikes that Ukraine’s energy minister said were spread across eight regions and followed a brief moratorium on attacks on energy facilities.

Russia launched 450 drones and over 70 missiles and at least nine people were wounded in attacks that struck apartment blocks as well as energy infrastructure, Ukrainian officials said. Electricity and heating was knocked out in many areas, with temperatures around or below -20 Celsius (-4 Fahrenheit).

“Taking advantage of the coldest days of winter to terrorise people is more important to Russia than resorting to diplomacy,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy wrote on Telegram, accusing Moscow of choosing “terror and escalation”.

He was referring to talks involving Russian, Ukrainian and U.S. officials scheduled to be held in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday and Thursday as Washington tries to broker an end to nearly four years of war since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.