Zelenskyy accuses Russia of escalating strikes ahead of peace talks

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has accused Russia of intensifying strikes on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure to pressure Kyiv ahead of upcoming talks.

Moscow’s strikes come as temperatures drop in Ukraine, days before US-brokered talks are set to take place in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday to revive stalled diplomatic efforts.

“By intensifying its attacks on Ukraine and our infrastructure at this very moment, Russia is trying to additionally lay the groundwork for putting pressure on Ukraine’s position and that of its partners,” Zelenskyy said on Saturday in a post on X.

“The capital is facing serious difficulties with its electricity, water, and heat supplies,” Zelenskyy said, adding that substations were also hit in five regions.

He also said Russia had launched 172 drones and 36 ballistic missiles, including KN-23 missiles manufactured and supplied by North Korea.

Zelenskyy said Ukraine only managed to intercept four of the 36 missiles and urged Washington to increase its flagging aid to Kyiv.

“Unfortunately, there is still a significant shortage of interceptors for Patriot systems, and the United States is in the best position to help address it,” Zelenskyy said.

The attacks killed at least two people across Ukraine and wounded about a dozen others, authorities said. The strikes also damaged homes, businesses and non-residential buildings.

Russia’s Ministry of Defence said Moscow struck “facilities belonging to the military-industrial complex, the energy sector, and transport infrastructure” in and around Kyiv.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said earlier on Saturday that the overnight strikes damaged energy facilities and a key bridge in the capital, warning that the energy situation was “extremely difficult”.

Klitschko said debris from the attack had struck a five-storey apartment building in a western district of the capital. The facade of another residential building was also damaged.

US-led talks

The attacks occurred days before US-led talks were to open in Abu Dhabi between Moscow and Kyiv to seek a resolution to the more than four-year-long war, which began with Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The last such talks took place in February this year.

On Thursday, US President Donald Trump said a deal between Russia and Ukraine may be imminent, after a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin’s special envoy, Kirill Dmitriev, at the White House.

However, Trump said he did not meet the Ukrainian delegation on Thursday.

On the same day as the meeting between the US president and Dmitriev, First Lady Melania Trump hosted a diplomatic gathering with Russian and Ukrainian representatives to mark and build on a localised truce she helped broker in the southern Ukrainian city of Oleshky in October.

The truce expired last Sunday, a day before Russia bombed an aid distribution point in Komyshuvakha, in Ukraine’s Zaporizhia region.

The attack killed at least 50 people, Ukraine’s State Emergency Service said on Friday, making it one of the ⁠deadliest strikes on ⁠civilians this year.

In an interview aired late on Thursday, Zelenskyy said his government was seeking specific guarantees from Western allies on how post-war security support would function.

Zelenskyy made the comments following two days of talks among allies in Brussels on post-war reconstruction, funding for next year, and security guarantees.

The meetings brought together officials from the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany and the European Union, along with representatives from the World Bank and the US investment group BlackRock, Ukrainian lead negotiator Rustem Umerov wrote in an online post.