Putin revokes the energy truce and attacks kyiv and other Ukrainian cities at -20ºC with record ballistic missiles

Vladimir Putin has given the green light to the resumption of massive bombings on the main Ukrainian cities and their energy system, thus considering it amortized the brief truce that he requested Donald Trump in a phone call. As the Kremlin stated last week, airstrikes on these targets would be suspended until February 1.

“The attacks go aimed at energy infrastructure. The objective is clear: to cause the maximum possible destruction and leave the city without heat in the middle of the extreme cold,” said the mayor of Kharkiv, Igor Terekhov. Russian missiles and drones also hit other towns in the region, leaving 60% of the population without electricity, in Izium, in Balaklia, in Dnipro, in Odessa or in two residential buildings in Sumi.

The new air attack also occurs on the eve of the delegations from Moscow and kyiv, with the mediation of the Trump Administration’s envoys, resuming diplomatic negotiations in Abu Dhabi this Wednesday to try to get closer to a peace agreement. The discrepancies remain for the moment insurmountable on the territorial issue and control of Donbas.

“For Russia it is more important to take advantage of the coldest days of winter to terrorize people than to opt for diplomacy,” he stressed. Zelenskywho received Mark Rutte, the Secretary General of NATO, in kyiv. The Ukrainian president has asked his allies for more resources for Ukrainian anti-aircraft defenses. “Without pressure on Russia, this war will not end. Moscow is choosing terror and escalation.”

“Tonight, in response to Ukraine’s terrorist attacks against civilian targets on Russian territory, the Russian Armed Forces launched a massive attack with long-range, high-precision weapons against companies in the Ukraine’s military-industrial complex and energy goals used by this,” the Russian Ministry of Defense detailed in a statement, confirming the end of the truce.

In kyiv, the shelling last night caused damage in five districts, with shells hitting three apartment blocks and a building that housed a daycare center, according to Tymur Tkachenko, head of the city’s military administration.

The mayor, Vitali Klichkó, ​​explained that Some 1,170 properties were left without heating. Videos shared on social media show a building engulfed in flames. The anti-aircraft alert remained in force for more than five hours.

The wave of mass attacks on the Ukrainian capital since New Year’s Day has left hundreds of apartment blocks and tens of thousands of their tenants without power and heat. Emergency crews and technicians were still trying to restore heating systems on Monday.

According to the Ukrainian Minister of Energy, Denís ShmigalIn this latest bombing, Russia attacked thermoelectric plants that supply energy to kyiv, Kharkiv and Dnipro, three of the most populated Ukrainian cities.