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Russia launched a second major drone and missile bombardment of Ukraine in four days, officials said Tuesday, aiming again at the power grid amid freezing temperatures in an apparent snub to U.S.-led peace efforts as Moscow’s invasion of its neighbour approaches the four-year mark.
Russia fired almost 300 drones, 18 ballistic missiles and seven cruise missiles at eight regions overnight, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on social media.
One strike in the northeastern Kharkiv region killed four people at a mail depot, and several hundred thousand households were without power in the Kyiv region, Zelenskyy said. The Kharkiv attack also wounded 10 people, local authorities said.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said Monday night’s strikes caused the biggest electrical outage the city has faced so far. More than 500 residential buildings remained without central heating Tuesday as daytime temperatures were -12 C.
To cope, friends and relatives gathered in those apartments that have power or hot water, at least temporarily. They charge their phones, take hot showers or share a warm drink.
Klitschko ordered the city to provide one hot meal per day to needy residents. He also announced that workers in the city’s water, heating and road maintenance services would receive bonuses for working “day and night” to restore critical infrastructure.
Russia has sought to deny Ukrainian civilians heat and running water in winter over the course of the war, hoping to wear down public resistance to Moscow’s full-scale invasion, which began on Feb. 24, 2022. Ukrainian officials have described the strategy as “weaponizing winter.”
Meanwhile, Russian air defences shot down 11 Ukrainian drones overnight, Russia’s Defence Ministry said Tuesday.
Civilian deaths increased in 2025: UN mission
The large-scale attack came days after Ukraine and its allies have reported major progress toward a peace deal to end the war, though Moscow has given no public signal it is willing to budge from its maximalist demands in terms of territory and denying Ukraine membership in European alliances. Russia also condemned the U.S. seizure of an oil tanker last week, part the Trump’s administration’s aggressive pressure campaign on exports of oil from Venezuela.
On Monday, the U.S. accused Russia of a “dangerous and inexplicable escalation” in fighting as it tries to advance peace negotiations.
Russia has used a new hypersonic missile to strike western Ukraine in a clear warning to Kyiv’s NATO allies. It’s only the second time the missile has been used in the nearly four-year-old war. CBC’s Briar Stewart explains.
Tammy Bruce, the U.S. deputy ambassador to the United Nations, told an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council that Washington deplores “the staggering number of casualties” in the conflict and condemns Russia’s intensifying attacks on energy and other infrastructure.
Ukraine called for the meeting after an overnight Russian bombardment on Thursday with hundreds of drones and dozens of missiles, including the powerful, new hypersonic Oreshnik missile, which Moscow used for only the second time.
Bruce reminded Russia that nearly a year ago it voted in favour of a Security Council resolution calling for an end to the conflict.
“It would be nice if Russia matched their words with deeds,” she said.
Russia’s UN Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia told the Security Council that until Zelenskyy “comes to his senses and agrees to realistic conditions for negotiations, we will continue solving the problem by military means.”
“He was warned long ago, with each passing day, each day which he squanders, the conditions for negotiations will only get worse for him,” Nebenzia said.
Last year was the deadliest for civilians in Ukraine since 2022, according to reporting Monday from the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine, as Russia intensified its aerial barrages behind the front line,
The war killed 2,514 civilians, a 31 per cent increase from 2024. Over 12,000 were injured, the mission said.
“The sharp increase in long-range attacks and the targeting of Ukraine’s national energy infrastructure mean that the consequences of the war are now felt by civilians far beyond the front line,” Danielle Bell, the UN agency’s head, said in a statement.
A coalition of Ukraine’s allies have been strategizing for a post-war scenario, with Britain and France committing to put troops on the ground in Ukraine if a ceasefire takes effect.
But the coalition is looking for specific U.S. security guarantees in that scenario. The Financial Times reported Tuesday that the leaders of Britain, Italy, Germany, France and Canada, along with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, plan to discuss that matter with Trump and Zelenskyy at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland next week.
The Times cited three officials briefed on the plans who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
