Russia attacked Kiev and other regions of Ukraine with missiles and drones on Saturday, ahead of what President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said would be a key meeting with US President Donald Trump to hammer out a deal to end nearly four years of war.
Zelenskyy called the massive overnight attack, which he said involved about 500 drones and 40 missiles and knocked out power and heat in parts of the capital, as a response by Russia to ongoing US peace efforts.
Before the attacks, the Ukrainian leader had said Sunday’s talks in Florida would focus on territory controlled by both sides once fighting ends in Europe’s deadliest conflict since World War II, started by Russia’s invasion of its smaller neighbor in 2022.
The attack continued throughout the morning and a nearly ten-hour air raid warning for the capital only ended at 11:20 am local time. Authorities said one person was killed by the attack in the Kiev region, while at least 19 people were injured in the capital itself, including two children.
“If Russia turns even the Christmas and New Year period into a time of destroyed houses and burned down apartments, of destroyed power plants, then this sick activity can only be responded to with really strong steps,” Zelenskyy wrote on X, calling on the US and Europe to put more pressure on Moscow.
He said rescuers were still searching for a person trapped under the rubble of one of the damaged residential buildings.
Russia made no immediate comment on the attacks.
Explosions echoed in Kiev early Saturday morning as Ukrainian air defense units flew into action. The air force said Russian drones targeted the capital and regions in the northeast and south.
Authorities said several locations in seven different districts of Kiev had suffered damage and at least three high-rise apartment buildings were on fire.
State grid operator Ukrenergo said energy facilities across Ukraine, including Kiev and the surrounding region, were affected by Russia and emergency power cuts had been implemented across the capital.
Ukraine’s foreign minister said the strikes left a third of Kiev without heat as temperatures hovered around 0 degrees Celsius on Saturday morning.
Authorities in the Kiev region, which surrounds but does not include the city, said 320,000 households lost power after the attack.
The strikes also prompted the temporary closure of two airports in southeastern Poland, west of Ukraine, after Polish forces flew fighter jets, the Polish Air Navigation Services Agency reported on X.
Russia launched attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure on Thursday evening and stepped up attacks on the southern Odesa region, the site of Ukraine’s main seaports, Ukrainian authorities said.
‘We’ll see what he has’
Amid the ongoing heavy fighting, territory remains the main diplomatic stumbling block. A 20-point draft in the US-led campaign to reach a peace plan is 90 percent complete, Zelenskyy told journalists in Kiev.
He said a security guarantee deal between Ukraine and the US was close to completion – a key element after guarantees in earlier post-Soviet years proved futile.
“A lot can be decided before the new year,” Zelenskyy posted on social media.
Trump said the US was the driving force behind the process, telling Politico: “[Zelenskyy] has nothing until I approve it… so we’ll see what he has.
Zelenskyy told Axios that the US had offered a 15-year deal on security guarantees, subject to extension, but Ukraine wanted a longer deal with legally binding provisions to protect against further Russian aggression.
Trump said he believed Sunday’s meeting would go well. He also said he expected to speak to Putin “soon, as much as I want.”
Divided demands
In addition to territory, a crucial point is the control of the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, the largest in Europe, which was seized by Russia in the first weeks of the war.
Russia is demanding that Ukraine withdraw from areas in the eastern Donetsk region that Russian troops have not occupied in their quest to secure the entire Donbas, which includes the Luhansk region.
Ukraine wants fighting to stop at current lines, with Zelenskyy previously telling reporters he would discuss “both the Donbas and the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant” with Trump.
Under a US compromise, a free economic zone would be established if Ukraine leaves parts of the Donetsk region, although the details have yet to be worked out.
Axios quoted Zelenskyy as saying that if he fails to push the US to support Ukraine’s “strong” position on the land issue, he was willing to put the 20-point plan to a referendum – as long as Russia agrees to a 60-day ceasefire so Ukraine can prepare for and hold the vote.
However, he said he wanted to put more pressure on Russia.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said the Ukrainian version of the 20-point plan differed from what Russia had discussed with the US, according to the Interfax-Russia news agency.
But he expressed optimism that the cases had reached a “turning point” in the search for a settlement.
Putin’s foreign policy aide, Yuri Ushakov, spoke with members of the Trump administration after Russia received US proposals on a possible peace deal, the Kremlin said on Friday. It was not disclosed how Russian officials had viewed the documents.
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