In Kyiv, as nighttime temperatures dipped close to -20 degrees Celsius (-4 degrees F), Reuters witnesses reported loud explosions after midnight, saying both missiles and drones were being deployed.
The strikes caused damage in five districts, hitting three apartment blocks and a building housing a kindergarten, Tymur Tkachenko, head of the city’s military administration, said on the Telegram messaging app.Flames consumed an apartment on the upper floors of a Kyiv block in videos posted on social media. An air raid alert stayed in effect for more than five hours.
A series of massive attacks on the capital since New Year’s Day have knocked out power and heating to hundreds of apartment blocks and emergency crews were still trying to restore heating systems on Monday.Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov said the attacks targeted energy infrastructure and called for tough decisions to keep heating systems from freezing. Coolant needed to be drained from 820 apartment buildings supplied by a single thermal plant.
“The goal is obvious: to cause maximum destruction and leave the city without heat in severe cold,” Terekhov wrote on Telegram.
Public broadcaster Suspilne also said Russian strikes had knocked out power in two towns in the Kharkiv region, Izium and Balakliia, and struck two apartment buildings in the northern city of Sumy.
The attacks also coincided with talk of a moratorium on strikes on energy infrastructure adopted by both Russia and Ukraine at the request of US President Donald Trump.
Russia said the ceasefire ended on Sunday, while Ukraine said it was to continue for a week from January 30.
On Monday, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Russia had not targeted Ukrainian energy infrastructure with missile or drone strikes in the previous 24 hours, but steady Russian shelling hit energy facilities near the front line.
