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AN OVERNIGHT RUSSIAN aerial attack has left thousands of residential buildings in Kyiv without heating and water in -14C temperatures – another blow to a capital already reeling from strikes that have knocked out vital utilities.
The large-scale bombardment, which targeted energy facilities across the country, killed at least one person – a 50-year-old man – near Kyiv.
AFP journalists in the capital heard air raid sirens and explosions as Ukrainian air defence systems responded to the drones and missiles.
“War criminal Putin continues to wage a genocidal war against women, children and elderly,” Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga wrote on social media, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
He said Russian forces had targeted energy infrastructure in at least seven regions and urged Ukraine’s allies to bolster its air defence systems.
“Putin’s barbaric strike this morning is a wake-up call to world leaders gathering in Davos,” he said of the World Economic Forum in the Swiss resort.
“Support for the Ukrainian people is urgent. There will be no peace in Europe without a lasting peace for Ukraine.”
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russian forces had launched “a significant number of ballistic and cruise missiles” and “more than 300 attack drones”.
Deputy Foreign Minister Mariana Betsa said: “Almost half of Kyiv is in blackout right now.”
Zelenskyy, who had recently complained of slow arms deliveries, said Ukraine had received a shipment of ammunition for air defences systems just one day before the attack.
“We finally received the necessary missiles, which helped significantly,” he said on social media.
The attack came around 10 days after the most significant Russian strike on Kyiv’s energy grid since its invasion almost four years ago.
That strike, at dawn on 9 January, left half the capital without heating and many residents without electricity for days in sub-zero temperatures.
Most of the buildings cut off today are those that were affected on 9 January.
Schools have been closed until February and streetlights dimmed in a bid to preserve energy resources.
Russia fired some 339 long-range combat drones and 34 missiles in the overnight barrage, Kyiv’s air force said.
“After this attack, 5,635 residential buildings are without heating,” Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on Telegram — about half the capital’s apartment blocks.
Much of Kyiv was also without running water, he added.
Authorities in the western region of Rivne said a separate attack there had damaged “critical infrastructure”, leaving 10,000 households without power.
The head of the southern Odesa region said a Russian drone had crashed into a residential building and energy facilities had been hit.
And in the eastern Poltava region, local authorities said an attack had sparked fire at an industrial facility.
Russia has been pounding Ukraine’s energy system since the start of its invasion, in what Kyiv says is an attempt to sap morale and weaken Ukrainians’ resistance.
The Kremlin says it only targets Ukrainian military facilities and has blamed the continuation of the war on Kyiv for refusing to accept its peace demands.
The International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants for two top Russian military officials over the strikes on Ukraine’s energy grid.
The court said it constituted a war crime as it was designed to harm Ukrainian civilians.
Due to war-time sensitivities, Kyiv does not say which energy facilities have been damaged or destroyed in Russian attacks.
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