FLASH
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Russia has launched the "most powerful blow" against Ukraine's energy sector, according to private energy company DTEK.
Combined missile and drone attacks targeting power plants and infrastructure in Kiev and multiple locations left the operating system with "serious limitations," she said.
The attacks began as temperatures dropped to -20 degrees Celsius (-4 degrees Fahrenheit) and left more than 1,000 buildings in the capital without heat again and damaged beyond repair a power plant in the eastern city of Kharkiv.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia was "choosing terror and escalation" instead of diplomacy to end this war and called for "maximum pressure" on Moscow from Ukraine's allies.
The attack comes after a so-called "energy truce" agreed between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin expired at the weekend.
This also happened on the day that NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte was in Kiev to meet with President Zelensky and address the national parliament.
Donald Trump's initiative was intended to give diplomacy a chance. Negotiators from Russia and Ukraine will meet in Abu Dhabi for another round of US-coordinated talks later this week.
It is clear that Russia has other ideas.
And in fact, there is always a gap between Russia's massive attacks, which makes Ukrainians doubt whether there has ever been any real pause.
We heard the first explosions in Kiev just after midnight, and the airstrike lasted more than seven hours.
Residents spent the night sheltering in subway stations, while some set up tents on platforms to protect them from the cold.
President Zelensky has said that more than 70 ballistic and cruise missiles were fired, significantly more than usual, along with 450 drones used to defeat Ukraine's air defenses.
The Ukrainian Air Force said it had only intercepted 38 missiles, meaning many of them reached their target.
Officials here have repeatedly complained about a lack of missiles to defend the skies. Ukraine relies in particular on US-made Patriot missiles.
“Timely delivery of missiles for air defense systems and protection of normal life are our priority,” Zelenksy wrote on X this morning, adding “without pressure on Russia, this war will not end.”
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