Hundreds Of Thousands Left Without Heat In Freezing Kyiv After Russian Drone Barrage

Nearly a third of the Ukrainian capital was left without heat amid freezing temperatures after Russian drones knocked out municipal heating plants. At least 11 people were wounded in the overnight barrage.

Ukrainian officials ordered emergency power cuts for large parts of Kyiv, in response to the December 27 attacks.

The hours-long Russian assault targeting residential homes and civilian infrastructure came as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy prepared for critical talks with US President Donald Trump on a Washington-backed peace plan.

“A lot can be decided before the New Year,” Zelenskyy said in a post to Telegram on December 26.

The White House, which made no formal announcement about the meeting, released a schedule showing Zelenskyy and Trump meeting in Florida on the afternoon on December 28.

“I think they want to do it now, and I think that Russia wants to do it. But every time one wants to do it, the other doesn’t,” Trump was quoted as telling the New York Post on December 26.

In comments to reporters later, Zelenskyy said the discussion would include two critical issues at the heart of the negotiations that began accelerating last month after the Trump White House released a plan seen as heavily favorable to Moscow.

One issue is the fate of the eastern Donbas region, most of which is under Russian control, and Moscow has demanded that Kyiv turn over that parts Moscow does not hold, including two major cities — Kramatorsk and Slovyansk — that are linchpins for Ukrainian defenses in the area.

Zelenskyy has proposed a compromise that calls for establishing a demilitarized zone in which both Ukraine and Russia would withdraw their forces. Foreign forces would then monitor the demilitarized buffer area.

The Ukrainian leader has floated the idea of holding a referendum on the plan, though he also cautioned that a 60-day cease-fire would be necessary to ensure people could vote safely.

The other critical issue was the fate of Ukraine’s largest nuclear power plant. The Zaporizhzhya region facility, which was Ukraine’s largest source of electricity, has been under Russian control since shortly after the start of the all-out invasion in February 2022.

Zelenskyy has proposed putting the plant under joint control between Ukraine and the United States, with Washington netting profits from the sale of the plant’s electricity — including potentially to Moscow.

The Kremlin, which believes it has the upper hand both on the battlefield and in the peace negotiations, has showed little willingness to compromise on its hard-line demands — most of which predate the invasion.

Kyiv’s mayor, Vitali Klitschko, said at least 11 people were wounded in the attack on the Ukrainian capital on December 27; large swaths of city districts on the eastern banks of the Dnieper River were without power and water, he said in a post to Telegram.

Ukraine’s largest private power company said nearly a third of Kyiv had been left without electricity.

A day earlier, Russia launched heavy glide bombs at Ukraine’s second-largest city, Kharkiv, killing at least two people and wounded several others.

Ukraine’s largest port city, Odesa, has been battered for several days in a row.

With reporting by RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service