KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia fired more than 650 drones and three dozen missiles at Ukraine in a large-scale attack that began overnight and continued into daylight Tuesday, officials said. At least three people died, including a 4-year-old child.
The shelling hit homes and power grids in 13 regions of Ukraine, causing widespread blackouts in harsh temperatures, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said, a day after calling recent progress toward a peace deal “very solid.”
The shelling demonstrated Russian President Vladimir Putin's intention to hold him accountable for the invasion of Ukraine, Zelensky said in a message on the Telegram app. Ukrainian and European officials have complained that Putin is not wholeheartedly participating in the U.S.-led peace efforts.
The attack “is an extremely clear signal of Russian priorities,” Zelensky said. “The strike before Christmas, when people want to be with their families, at home, safe. The strike is essentially in the middle of negotiations that are going on to end this war. Putin cannot come to terms with the fact that we must stop the killing.”
US President Donald Trump has been pushing for a peace deal for months, but negotiations have become bogged down by vastly different demands from Moscow and Kyiv.
US Ambassador Steve Witkoff said on Sunday he had held “productive and constructive” talks in Florida with representatives from Ukraine and Europe. On Monday, Trump was less emotional, saying: “The negotiations are moving forward.”
According to Zelensky, initial reports from Ukrainian emergency services said a toddler died in the Zhytomyr region in northwestern Ukraine, while a drone killed a woman in the Kyiv region, and another civilian death was recorded in the western Khmelnytsky region.
Authorities in the western regions of Rivne, Ternopil and Lviv, as well as the northern Sumy region, reported damage to energy infrastructure or power outages after the attack.
According to the head of the region, Oleg Kiper, in the south of the Odessa region, Russia struck a blow to the energy, port, transport, industrial and residential infrastructure.
A merchant ship and more than 120 houses were damaged, he said.
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Follow AP's coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine.
