Thousands without power in Kyiv after massive Russian attack

A third of residents in Ukraine’s capital Kyiv are without power after a “massive bombing” of residential areas and critical infrastructure by Russia overnight, Ukraine’s foreign minister has said.

Andrii Sybiha said residents had been left without heating in freezing winter temperatures.

At least one person was killed and 30 others were injured in the strikes, Kyiv Mayor Vitaliy Klitschko said.

The attacks happened hours before Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky departed for Florida, where he will meet Donald Trump on Sunday for peace talks.

Russia’s ministry of defence said it had launched a “massive retaliatory strike” on Ukrainian energy infrastructure facilities.

It said it used long-range, land-, air-, and sea-based precision weapons to target the facilities, which it claimed were being used “in the interests of the Ukrainian Armed Forces and enterprises of the Ukrainian military-industrial complex”.

Following the strikes, Zelensky repeated his claim that Russia does “not want to end the war and is trying to use every opportunity to inflict more pain on Ukraine”.

Writing on Telegram, Zelensky said Russia directed almost 500 drones and 40 missiles towards Kyiv, targeting energy and civilian infrastructure.

Pictures show apartment buildings with gaping holes and homes on fire following the strikes.

The apartment block of BBC journalist Anastasiya Gribanova was struck, leaving some homes on the higher levels of the high-rise building in flames. Gribanova, who was in the building’s elevator at the time, was unharmed.

Ukraine’s State Emergency Service said that 68 people were evacuated from a retirement home in the eastern Darnytskyi district.

“Russian representatives are having long conversations, but in reality the Daggers [missiles] and Shaheds [drones] are speaking for them,” Zelensky wrote on Telegram, saying that Vladimir Putin does not want to end the war.

“This sick activity can only be responded to with really strong steps. America has this opportunity, Europe has this opportunity, many of our partners have this opportunity,” he wrote, urging allies to show strength against Russian aggression.

The strikes saw Poland, which shares a 530km-long (320-miles) border with western Ukraine, ready its fighter jets, ground-based air defence systems and radar reconnaissance.

The move was “aimed at securing and protecting the airspace, especially in areas adjacent to the threatened regions,” Poland’s Armed Forces said.

Later on Saturday morning, it concluded that there had been no violation of the country’s airspace.

Meanwhile, Russia’s defence ministry said its air defences destroyed seven Ukrainian drones overnight.

On Saturday, Zelensky, EU leaders and European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen are expected to hold a phone call to discuss the road to peace.

Zelensky’s new 20-point draft is a revised version of an earlier 28-point plan which was drafted by US special envoy Steve Witkoff, but widely seen as being too favourable to Russia.

The Ukrainian president has voiced optimism around the new draft, describing it as “a foundational document on ending the war”, but Trump warned that Zelensky “doesn’t have anything until I approve it” in an interview with Politico.

The draft reportedly includes security guarantees from the US, Nato and European allies for a co-ordinated military response if Russia were to invade Ukraine again.

Control of Ukraine’s eastern Donbas has been a sticking point in talks so far, but now Zelensky has said a “free economic zone” could be an option.

Trump told Politico that he was expecting to see the new draft on Sunday.

“I think it’s going to go good with him. I think it’s going to go good with [Vladimir] Putin,” Trump said in the interview, adding that he expects to speak with Russia’s president “soon”.