Russian bombardments killed one person and injured twenty seven others in Kiev and the northeastern city of Kharkiv overnight, Ukrainian authorities said, as Ukrainian and Russian negotiators prepared for a second day of talks on the latest United States brokered peace proposals.
Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga condemned the attacks, saying Russia had carried out another night of terror even as diplomacy was underway. He accused President Vladimir Putin of ordering a massive missile strike while delegations were meeting in Abu Dhabi to advance what he described as an America led peace process.
Sybiga said the strikes were aimed not only at civilians but also at undermining negotiations themselves. The comments came after the first known direct contact between Ukrainian and Russian officials on the proposal began on Friday.
Ukraine’s chief negotiator Rustem Umerov said discussions focused on the parameters for ending the war and the broader logic of the negotiation process.
Earlier versions of a United States draft peace plan drew strong criticism in Kiev and western Europe for aligning too closely with Moscow’s demands, while Russia rejected later versions that suggested deploying European peacekeepers in Ukraine. Both sides agree that the fate of territory in the eastern Donbas region remains the central unresolved issue in a war that has killed tens of thousands, displaced millions and devastated large parts of the country.
United States President Donald Trump met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Thursday, while US envoy Steve Witkoff later held talks with Vladimir Putin in Moscow.
Overnight strikes left thousands of residents in Kiev without heating in sub zero temperatures. The European Union, which has supplied hundreds of generators to Ukraine, accused Moscow of deliberately depriving civilians of heat.
Kiev Mayor Vitali Klitschko said the capital was under a massive enemy attack, with several non residential buildings hit. Fires broke out after drone debris struck buildings, and heat and water services were disrupted in parts of the city.
Zelensky said Russia launched more than three hundred and seventy attack drones and twenty one missiles of various types. Ukraine’s largest energy provider said eighty eight thousand families in Kiev were temporarily left without power. In the northern Chernigiv region, authorities said hundreds of thousands lost electricity after strikes hit a critical energy facility.
Last week Zelensky declared a state of emergency in the energy sector, which has been heavily damaged by repeated Russian attacks.
Despite growing diplomatic efforts to end Europe’s worst conflict since World War Two, Moscow and Kiev remain deadlocked over territory. The Kremlin reiterated its demand that Ukraine withdraw its forces from the eastern Donbas region, calling it a key condition for any settlement. Ukraine has firmly rejected that demand.
Zelensky said the Donbas remained a key issue and added that he and President Trump had discussed post war security guarantees during their meeting in Davos.
Russian and Ukrainian negotiators last met face to face in Istanbul last summer, when talks resulted only in prisoner exchanges. The Abu Dhabi talks mark the first direct engagement between the two sides over the Trump administration’s latest plan.
Putin has repeatedly said Russia will seek full control of eastern Ukraine by force if negotiations fail. Trump has previously pressured Ukraine to accept terms Kiev considers a surrender, but said this week that he believed both sides were close to a deal, warning that failure to reach an agreement would be foolish for all involved.
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