Russia Fires 450 Drones and 70 Missiles at Ukraine, a Day Before US-Brokered Talks

Russia fired around 450 long-range drones and 70 missiles of various types at Ukraine in a major attack overnight, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Tuesday. The barrage came a day before the two countries were due to attend U.S.-brokered talks in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, on ending the all-out war, which Russia launched nearly four years ago. The bombardment of at least five regions of Ukraine specifically took aim at the power grid, Zelenskyy said, as part of Moscow’s ongoing campaign to deny civilians light, heating and running water amid the coldest winter in years. At least 10 people were wounded, officials said. "Taking advantage of the coldest days of winter to terrorize people is more important to Russia than diplomacy," Zelenskyy said. Temperatures in Kyiv fell to minus 20 degrees Celsius during the night and stood at minus 16 C on Tuesday. He urged allies to send more air defense supplies and bring "maximum pressure" to bear on Russia to end its full-scale invasion, which began on Feb. 24, 2022. NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte was on an official visit to Kyiv on Tuesday to back Ukraine's war effort. Ukraine’s largest private power company, DTEK, said that the overnight attack hit its thermal power plants in the ninth major assault since October. In Kyiv, officials said that five people were wounded in the strikes that damaged and set fire to residential buildings, a kindergarten and a gas station in various parts of the capital. By early morning, 1,170 apartment buildings in the capital were without heating, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said. Russia also struck Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv region and the southern Odesa region. The attack also damaged the Hall of Fame at the National Museum of the History of Ukraine in the Second World War.