BBC:
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 28 others were injured in the strikes, Ukraine’s State Emergency Service reported.
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.
