Russia launched multiple missile strikes on Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second‑largest city, on Monday, 5 January, targeting energy infrastructure and causing “very serious damage,” local authorities said. The attacks occurred as world leaders prepare for a Ukraine peace summit in Paris this week.
According to the mayor of Kharkiv, Ihor Terekhov, five missile strikes hit the city’s energy system, damaging facilities crucial for heating, water and electricity, services vital amid winter conditions.
“This is not just an attack on facilities. It’s an attack on heating, on water, on people’s normal lives,” Terekhov wrote on Telegram.
At least one civilian was injured, the regional prosecutor’s office said, according to emergency teams who responded to the aftermath of the strikes. Emergency services released also images of rescuers removing people on stretchers from a gutted clinic building.
“Doctors and nurses were forced to evacuate the wounded under fire,” Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko said via a post on X.
“It was a terrible night for us,” Margaryta Maliovana, the clinic’s CEO, told AFP.
“One person died. A young man, 30 years old, was killed,” Maliovana stated, adding that there were 26 patients in the clinic at the time of the attack.
In the eastern city of Dnipro, a separate strike damaged a facility owned by the U.S. agricultural producer Bunge, causing an estimated 300‑tonne spill of sunflower oil, city officials said.
Workers have been engaged in cleanup efforts, spreading sand and gravel to manage the spill, and a riverside road has been closed for several days.
Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry has condemned the Dnipro strike as deliberate, saying Russia has repeatedly targeted American business interests in Ukraine. Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha described the facility’s repeated targeting as evidence of a systemic pattern rather than accidental damage.
These latest strikes form part of a broader surge in Russian attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure since November, according to energy suppliers and local officials.
The attack left many regions with limited or disrupted electricity and heating. Entire cities have experienced power outages following missile and drone barrages.
There was no immediate comment from Moscow about the latest strikes.
Paris peace talks
The attacks come as a meeting, hosted by French President Emmanuel Macron, is expected to bring together officials from the “Coalition of the Willing” on Tuesday.
Macron and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will be joined by more than 27 world leaders, along with senior U.S. negotiators Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, as part of efforts to coordinate a common Ukrainian, European and American position to take to Moscow.
Territorial disputes remain a major obstacle, and fighting continues across the frontlines. Ahead of Tuesday’s summit, military officials, including the head of Ukraine’s general staff, were in Paris to draft concrete commitments, as previous military pledges have largely been vague.
According to a note sent to the 35 invited delegations, the meeting will focus on securing contributions to a multinational force for Ukraine in the event of a ceasefire, as well as broader security guarantees, including binding commitments in case of renewed attacks.
The coalition also aims to coordinate these plans with the negotiating positions of Ukraine, the U.S. and Europe, and to define next steps to increase support for Ukraine and pressure Moscow if it refuses meaningful negotiations.
A French presidency official said the operational details of the security guarantees have been agreed upon and stressed the need for long-term commitments from participating countries.
A senior European official added that firming up the coalition’s guarantees should help cement U.S. commitments, previously outlined in bilateral talks.
In a national address on Sunday, Zelenskyy said Ukraine is preparing for both diplomacy and further active defence, emphasising that the country “wants peace.”
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A Russian guided aerial bomb has struck an apartment building in Kharkiv, injuring 22 people, including children, according to the city’s mayor. The strike follows a day of near-continuous Russian attacks across Ukraine that killed at least five people.
British police have arrested five men on suspicion of offences under the Explosives Act after a major security incident was declared near RAF Fairford, a British air base used by U.S. air forces in Gloucestershire, England.
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