A Russian drone and missile attack knocks out heating and water supply to nearly half of Kyiv’s apartment buildings. Putin’s recent attack on Ukraine is a wakeup call for world leaders at Davos, Ukraine says. Zelenskyi has not decided yet on travelling to Davos, media say.
Russian drone, missile attack knocks out heating, water supply to nearly half of Kyiv’s apartment buildings
Russia overnight on Tuesday carried out a major drone and missile attack, targeting the capital, Kyiv, and the surrounding region as well as the regions of Vinnytsya, Dnipro, Odesa, Zaporizhzhia, Poltava and Sumy, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi said on social media on Tuesday morning.
“The Russian strike involved a significant number of ballistic and cruise missiles. Plus more than 300 attack drones,” he said. “The most difficult situation for now is in Kyiv, where a significant number of residential buildings are without heating,” he added.
Russia launched 34 missiles and 339 drones at Ukraine overnight on Tuesday, the Ukrainian Air Force said. The main target of the attack was Kyiv region. Ukraine’s military said it had shot down or otherwise neutralized 315 drones in the north, south, east and center of the country as well as a total of 27 missiles — 14 Iskander-M/S-300 ballistic missiles and 13 Kh-101 cruise missiles. Five missiles and 24 drones hit target in 11 locations and the falling debris fell in 12 other places, it added. The effects of two missile strikes were being clarified, the Air Force said.
The attack left 5,635 apartment buildings in Kyiv without heat, the city’s mayor Vitaliy Klychko said on Telegram. Almost 80 per cent of the buildings affected are the ones that had heating disrupted and subsequently restored after a previous Russian attack on January 9. Neighborhoods on the left bank of the city were cut off from water, he added. Municipal workers and energy teams are working to restore heating, water and power supply to Kyivites, Klychko said.
A Russian drone and missile attack on the capital on January 9 knocked out heating to around 6,000 buildings, of which 16 were still in the cold on Monday evening, the mayor previously said.
In the Dniprovskyi district of Kyiv, one person was injured and a non-residential building got damaged, Klychko said. In Kyiv region, one person was killed in the attack.
The Ukrainians continue to keep their spirits up as the country faces a difficult time. They invent a variety of ways to warm up in the cold: install tents in their apartments, stay warm with their pets or move to countryside homes heated with wood.
Putin’s recent attack on Ukraine is wakeup call for world leaders at Davos, Ukraine says
A Russian drone and missile attack on Ukraine on Tuesday is a “wakeup call” for world leaders gathering in Davos, Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha said in a post to X following an overnight Russian strike.
“Putin’s barbaric strike this morning is a wakeup call to world leaders gathering in Davos: support for the Ukrainian people is urgent; there will be no peace in Europe without a lasting peace for Ukraine; peace can only be achieved through strength,” he said, adding that “we need urgent additional energy assistance, air defense and interceptors, as well as sanctions pressure on Moscow.”
“Thousands of houses are without heating in Kyiv at -15°C outside, following Russia’s mass strike overnight. War criminal Putin continues to wage a genocidal war against women, children, and elderly,” he continued.
The resilience of the Ukrainian people cannot be an excuse for this war to continue. It must end as soon as possible, Sybiha said.
Zelenskyi has not decided yet on travelling to Davos, media say
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has not decided yet on travelling to Davos as the U.S. has not made clear if a substantive meeting with President Donald Trump will happen, a Ukrainian official told Reuters on Tuesday. Ukraine would be ready to sign the documents on security guarantees or prosperity if the U.S. side is ready, the official said.
“But for now, I have a challenge here in Ukraine, and it is very important for me to coordinate all services at this moment,” Zelenskyi said Tuesday, answering a question by a Financial Times journalist.
The Greenland dispute pushed aside plans to use Davos week to reach understandings between the U.S., Ukraine and the European powers on security guarantees and reconstruction for Ukraine, Axios said Tuesday.
A Ukrainian official said a plan for the leaders to sign the “prosperity plan” was scrapped. A U.S. official denied any date had been set and said the plan still needed some work. Trump still plans to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and several European leaders, but a U.S. official said not to expect any breakthroughs.
Meanwhile, Trump’s envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner plan to meet Russian envoy Kirill Dmitriev in Davos on Tuesday to discuss Ukraine, Axios said.