KYIV, Ukraine — 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 neighbor approaches the four-year mark.
Russia fired almost 300 drones, 18 ballistic missiles and seven cruise missiles at eight regions overnight, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky 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, Zelensky said.
The daytime temperature in Kyiv, which has endured freezing temperatures for more than two weeks, was about 10 degrees, with streets covered in ice and the rumble of generators heard throughout the capital.
Kyiv has grappled with severe power shortages for days, although Mayor Vitali Klitschko said Monday night’s strikes caused the biggest electrical outage the city has faced so far.
Kyiv residents huddle for warmth
More than 500 residential buildings remained without central heating Tuesday. Throughout the city, bare trees were weighed down with icicles and snow was piled up next to sidewalks.
Olena Davydova, 30, charged her phone at what is called a “Point of Invincibility” shelter in Kyiv’s Dniprovskyi district. The government-built temporary installations, often large tents on the sidewalk, provide food, drinks, warmth and electricity.
Davydova said she had been without power for nearly 50 hours. That forced her to adopt some new routines: sleeping in one bed with her child and two cats, storing fresh food on the balcony, and using candles after dark.
She says she is taking the changes in stride. “I still have enough patience. I’m not reacting to this in a very emotional way,” she told The Associated Press.
Elsewhere, friends and relatives gathered in apartments still with power or hot water, at least temporarily, to charge their phones, take 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.
U.S. calls out ‘inexplicable’ Russian escalation
Four days earlier, Russia also sent hundreds of drones and dozens of missiles in a large-scale overnight attack and, for only the second time in the war, it used a powerful new hypersonic missile that struck western Ukraine in what appeared to be a clear warning to Kyiv’s NATO allies that it won’t back down.
On Monday, the U.S. accused Russia of a
Russia launches another major strike on Ukraine’s power grid in freezing temperatures
