Ukraine has accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of "cynically" ordering massive missile strikes as negotiators from Russia, Ukraine and the United States meet for a second day in Abu Dhabi to discuss a plan to end the almost four-year-long war.
"Peace efforts? Trilateral meeting in the UAE? Diplomacy? For Ukrainians, this was another night of Russian terror," Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga said.
"Cynically, Putin ordered a brutal massive missile strike against Ukraine right while delegations are meeting in Abu Dhabi to advance the America-led peace process. His missiles hit not only our people, but also the negotiation table."
"This barbaric attack once again proves that Putin's place is not at the board of peace, but at the dock of the special tribunal," he wrote on X.
Russia launched waves of air strikes against Ukraine's two largest cities Kyiv and Kharkiv early this morning, with one person killed and at least 23 injured.
Ukraine's air force said Russia had launched 375 drones and 21 missiles in the strikes, which once again targeted energy infrastructure, knocking outpower and heat for large parts of the capital.
The missile strikes on Ukrainian energy facilities showed that agreements on air defence made with US President Donald Trump in Davos this week must be "fully implemented," President Volodymyr Zelensky has said.
Mr Zelensky and Mr Trump met at the World Economic Forum on Thursday and discussed air defence support for Ukraine, although afterwards neither leader specified what was agreed.
Mr Zelensky had said yesterday that it was too early to draw conclusions from the first day of meetings in Abu Dhabi, and he had urged Russia to show it was ready to end the war.
Ahead of the talks, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Russia had not dropped its insistence on Ukraine yielding all of its eastern area of Donbas - Ukraine's industrial heartland grouping the regions of Donetsk and Luhansk.
Before today's strikes, Kyiv had already endured two mass overnight attacks since the New Year that knocked out power and heating to hundreds of residential buildings.
Ukraine's deputy prime minister said this morning that 800,000 people in Kyiv - where temperatures were around -10 Celsius - had been left without power after the latest Russian attack.
