KYIV — Russia pounded Ukraine’s energy grid with missiles and drones Tuesday, causing power outages in Kyiv and other major cities as temperatures dropped below freezing just a day after the Kremlin said the pause on power sector attacks requested by President Donald Trump had expired.
Trump said Thursday that he had persuaded Russian President Vladimir Putin to refrain from targeting Kyiv and other cities for one week, during a period of “extraordinary cold.” But a day later, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the pause would be over by Sunday.
On Monday, though, Trump repeated that Putin had promised he would refrain from hitting Kyiv and other cities, suggesting that president thought the ceasefire was still in effect. “I asked him if he wouldn’t shoot for a period of one week. No missiles going into Kyiv or any other towns, and he’s agreed to do it. So it’s something,” he said in the Oval Office. Hours later, the missiles began falling on Kyiv.
Despite Trump’s timeline, Russian forces unleashed a hail of fire across Ukraine overnight Tuesday, targeting its power plants and energy infrastructure even as temperatures approached -4 degrees Fahrenheit (-20 Celsius) in Kyiv.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Tuesday morning that Moscow launched some 70 missiles and 450 attack drones. The missiles in particular are devastating, and the number was several times more than has been typical during an overnight barrage.
“Taking advantage of the coldest days of winter to terrorize people is more important to Russia than turning to diplomacy,” Zelensky wrote. Talks among Ukrainian, U.S. and Russian delegations to resolve the conflict are scheduled to resume in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday.
Ukraine’s largest private energy company, DTEK, said in a social media post that the attacks had caused “significant damage” to the company’s thermal power plants, though it did not specify which ones had been hit. Because of the strikes, DTEK said, it introduced “emergency power cuts” in parts of Kyiv.
All through the winter, one of the coldest in years, Russia has been attacking power plants around Kyiv and the rest of the country, leaving people without heat, water or electricity. Soon after repairs are made, a new wave of strikes plunges neighborhoods back into darkness.
City officials said the assault injured three people and caused damage in five districts.
“Putin waited for the temperatures to drop and stockpiled drones and missiles to continue his genocidal attacks against the Ukrainian people,” Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha wrote on X.
“Neither anticipated diplomatic efforts in Abu Dhabi this week nor his promises to the United States kept him from continuing terror against ordinary people in the harshest winter,” he said.
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