President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Russia of wanting to sow "chaos" in Ukraine by launching strikes on his country's energy grid and railway infrastructure, in comments published today.
Moscow, whose forces invaded Ukraine in 2022, have in recent weeks escalated aerial attacks on Ukrainian energy facilities and rail systems.
"Russia's task is to create chaos and apply psychological pressure on the population through strikes on energy facilities and railways," Mr Zelensky told journalists in embargoed comments made in Kyiv yesterday.
The recent attacks mirror similar Russian bombing campaigns in the winters of 2022, 2023 and 2024 when attacks left millions of Ukrainians without energy or heating for long periods.
Mr Zelensky said that Russian attacks this year had already put Ukrainian gas infrastructure under "heavy pressure" and that more strikes on gas infrastructure could force his country to ramp up imports.
Ukraine has also recently stepped up its own drone and missile strikes on Russian territory in a campaign that Mr Zelensky said was showing "results" and that have also increased fuel prices in Russia.
"We believe that they've lost up to 20% of their gasoline supply - directly as a result of our strikes," Mr Zelensky said, adding there was evidence Russia had stepped up imports from China and Belarus.
Ukraine says Russian strikes kill three
Meanwhile, Russian strikes killed three people and wounded two in Ukraine's northeastern Sumy region, its military administration said.
The attacks came after Russia said yesterday that momentum towards reaching a peace deal in Ukraine had largely vanished, following Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump's presidential summit in Alaska, dimming hopes for a quick end to the three-and-a-half year war.
"Russia is attacking the communities of the region with dozens of strike UAVs and guided aerial bombs," Oleg Grygorov, the head of Sumy's regional military administration, said on Telegram yesterday.
He confirmed three men were killed in the attacks and two people were wounded.
An attack by Ukrainian drones on Russia's Volgograd region caused fires at "fuel and energy facilities", Governor Andrey Bocharov said today.
The Ukrainian military said it had struck the Korobkovsky gas processing plant and oil transport infrastructure in the region.
Ukraine's general staff recorded explosions and a fire at the gas processing plant and "Yefimovka" station, according to a statement on Telegram.
Mr Putin and Mr Trump met at an air base in the Alaskan city of Anchorage in August, but failed to reach any kind of peace agreement to end the fighting.
Russia launched its full-scale offensive on Ukraine in February 2022, describing it as a "special military operation" to demilitarise the country and prevent the expansion of NATO.
Kyiv and its European allies have cast the war as an illegal land grab that has resulted in tens of thousands of civilian and military casualties and widespread destruction.
Millions of Ukrainians have been forced to leave their homes since 2022, while Russia now occupies around a fifth of Ukrainian territory - much of it ravaged by fighting.
