Russian strikes early this morning cut heating to nearly 2,600 residential buildings in Kyiv, in a nationwide attack on energy facilities that killed two people in eastern Ukraine.
Russia has stepped up strikes on Ukraine's power and heating infrastructure, plunging entire cities into darkness in the coldest winter of the four-year war.
There were loud blasts in Kyiv and explosions lit up the night sky, as Ukrainian air defence systems fended off the Russian barrage.
"After last night's massive attack, due to damage to critical infrastructure targeted by the enemy, nearly 2,600 more buildings in the capital have been left without heat," the mayor of Kyiv, Vitali Klitschko, said.
He added that two people had been wounded in the capital overnight.
More than 1,000 of the capital's approximately 12,000 apartment blocks were already without heating after massive Russian attacks over the last few weeks.
Russia launched 24 missiles and 219 drones at the war-torn country, Ukraine's air force said, adding that its air defence units had downed 16 missiles and 197 drones.
Two people were killed in the eastern Ukrainian town of Lozova, where the attack cut power to residents and forced authorities to use alternative power sources for critical infrastructure, a local official said.
The attack also wounded four people in the central city of Dnipro, and cut heating to 10,000 customers, Restoration Minister Oleksiy Kuleba said.
"This is yet another attempt to deprive Ukrainians of basic services in the middle of winter. But restoration efforts continue nonstop," Mr Kuleba added.
In the southern Odesa region, the attacks wounded one person, the state emergency services said, while Mr Kuleba said around 300,000 had been left without water supplies.
Russia meanwhile said it repelled a missile attack in the Volgograd region but that debris ignited a fire at a military facility and prompted the evacuation of a nearby village.
EU support for Ukraine 'critically important' - Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko tells RTÉ
UK pledges over €600m in weapons to Ukraine
The UK today pledged hundreds of millions of euro in air defences for Ukraine to help stave off Russian attacks on the country's power and heating systems.
The British defence ministry said some £150m (€172m) would go to a NATO scheme backed by US President Donald Trump to buy American weaponry for Kyiv.
London will also send Ukraine 1,000 British-made lightweight missiles worth more than £390m (€447m) to Kyiv.
British Defence Minister John Healey said Ukraine's allies "are more committed than ever to supporting Ukraine" as Russia's war nears the start of its fifth year.
The announcement came as NATO defence ministers met in Brussels to discuss ramping up support to Ukraine.
Ferocious Russian bombardments on the war-torn country's energy grid have seen heating and power cuts for swathes of the country during freezing winter conditions.
"It's just terrorism against the civilian population of Ukraine," said German defence minister Boris Pistorius.
"So it is necessary to ramp up the support for Ukraine in terms of self-defence."
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