President Volodymyr Zelenskyy arrived in the United States ahead of talks with President Donald Trump aimed at ending the war, as Russia launched hundreds of drones and dozens of missiles at Kyiv and other parts of Ukraine overnight on Saturday, killing at least two people and injuring more than 40.
Ukrainian authorities said the attacks caused widespread power and heating outages in the capital, with air raid alerts lasting for nearly 10 hours.
At least 46 people were wounded, including two children, while two deaths were reported in Kyiv and the surrounding region.
Zelenskyy said Russia fired about 500 drones and 40 missiles, targeting energy facilities and civilian infrastructure.
“Today, Russia demonstrated how it responds to peaceful negotiations between Ukraine and the United States to end Russia’s war against Ukraine,” he said, calling for stronger pressure from Washington and Europe.
State grid operator Ukrenergo said energy facilities across the country were struck, forcing emergency power cuts.
Ukraine’s largest private energy company, DTEK said more than one million households in and around Kyiv lost electricity, with hundreds of thousands still without power by Saturday afternoon.
Deputy Prime Minister Oleksiy Kuleba said more than 40% of residential buildings in the capital were left without heat as temperatures hovered around freezing.
Explosions were heard across Kyiv as air defence systems were activated, while Ukraine’s air force said regions in the north-east and south were also hit.
The attacks came as Zelenskyy and his delegation arrived in Florida late on Saturday, Ukraine’s Deputy Foreign Minister Serhiy Kyslytsya said. Posting on X, he wrote “Good evening, Florida!” alongside a photo of an aircraft bearing the U.S. president’s surname.
Zelenskyy has said Sunday’s talks with Trump would focus on security guarantees and territorial control, the main unresolved issues in efforts to secure a ceasefire in the conflict triggered by Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
He said a 20-point peace framework backed by Washington is about 90% complete, but that the question of territory remains the central diplomatic stumbling block.
Russia has demanded that Ukraine withdraw from the entire Donbas region, including areas still under Kyiv’s control, while Ukraine has said any ceasefire should freeze fighting along current front lines.
The United States has proposed a compromise under which a free economic zone would be created if Ukrainian forces withdraw from parts of Donbas, though details remain unclear.
Zelenskyy told Axios that if Washington does not back Ukraine’s position on territory, he would consider putting the peace plan to a referendum, provided Russia agrees to a 60-day ceasefire.
He later said such a referendum would be impossible while Russian attacks on Ukrainian cities continue.
Another key issue in the talks is the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, Europe’s largest, seized by Russian forces early in the war.
On his way to the United States, Zelenskyy stopped in Halifax, where he met Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney.
Carney announced an additional C$2.5bn ($1.83bn) in economic support for Ukraine, saying the overnight attack showed the urgency of continued backing.
“The barbarism that we saw overnight, the attack on Kyiv, shows just how important it is that we stand with Ukraine in this difficult time,” Carney said.
In Russia, air defence forces shot down eight drones heading towards Moscow, according to the city’s mayor. Moscow made no immediate comment on the strikes.
Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said Ukraine’s peace proposals differed from discussions Russia had held with Washington, but added that negotiations had reached what he described as a “turning point”.
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A senior Russian military intelligence officer has been rushed to hospital after being shot several times in Moscow, in the latest apparent assassination attempt targeting the country’s top brass since the start of the war in Ukraine.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has deployed one of its largest ballistic missiles at a newly unveiled underground base on Wednesday (3 February), just two days ahead of mediated nuclear talks with the United States in Muscat, Oman.
A powerful explosion struck a Shi'ite mosque in the Tarlai Kalan area of Pakistan’s capital during Friday (6 February) prayers, killing at least 31 and injuring at least 160, according to local media. Preliminary reports indicate that a suicide bomber detonated explosives at the mosque’s main gate.
If Fars News Agency is to be believed, Iran's neighbours should be on alert. The agency, which reportedly mirrors the views of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), warned Azerbaijan and Türkiye that if the U.S. and Israel attack Iran, they will become "legitimate targets for Tehran."
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has deployed one of its largest ballistic missiles at a newly unveiled underground base on Wednesday (3 February), just two days ahead of mediated nuclear talks with the United States in Muscat, Oman.
Rivers and reservoirs across Spain and Portugal were on the verge of overflowing on Wednesday as a new weather front pounded the Iberian peninsula, compounding damage from last week's Storm Kristin.
Morocco has evacuated more than 100,000 people from four provinces after heavy rainfall triggered flash floods across several northern regions, the Interior Ministry said on Wednesday.
Israeli tank shelling and airstrikes killed 24 Palestinians including seven children in Gaza on Wednesday (4 February), health officials said, the latest violence to undermine the nearly four-month-old ceasefire.
Azerbaijan and Armenia used a high-profile international platform in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday to underline growing trade ties, expanding cooperation and what both leaders described as an irreversible turn towards peace after decades of conflict.
A senior Russian military intelligence officer has been rushed to hospital after being shot several times in Moscow, in the latest apparent assassination attempt targeting the country’s top brass since the start of the war in Ukraine.
U.S. and Iranian delegations began Oman-mediated indirect talks on Friday (6 February) aimed at reviving diplomacy over Tehran’s nuclear programme, according to Iran’s state broadcaster, amid heightened regional tensions and warnings of possible military escalation.
A powerful explosion struck a Shi'ite mosque in the Tarlai Kalan area of Pakistan’s capital during Friday (6 February) prayers, killing at least 31 and injuring at least 160, according to local media. Preliminary reports indicate that a suicide bomber detonated explosives at the mosque’s main gate.
Eight vehicles caught fire on Friday (6 February) outside a wholesale fish market in Hong Kong, sending thick black smoke over parts of the Kowloon peninsula, before firefighters brought the blaze under control, authorities said.
The U.S. military said it has carried out a strike Thursday (5 February) on a vessel allegedly engaged in narco-trafficking in the Eastern Pacific, according to the U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM), killing two people.
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