Zelensky says Russian strikes hit Ukraine’s energy sites despite ceasefire push

A damaged multi-storey residential building is seen on fire after a Russian missile strike on Kyiv, Ukraine (Evgeniy Maloletka/AP)

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has voiced outrage over Russia’s continuing aerial bombardment of Ukraine’s energy infrastructure in apparent defiance of US President Donald Trump’s demand for a ceasefire.

Moscow’s forces pounded Ukraine’s power grid, as well as oil and gas facilities, for the third straight night, Mr Zelensky said, after Mr Trump claimed that Russia and Ukraine had agreed to an “energy ceasefire” four and a half years after Moscow’s forces invaded.

Mr Zelensky, meanwhile, has agreed to halt Ukraine’s months-long campaign targeting Russian oil refineries that caused fuel shortages for Russians.

Ukraine’s last reported hit on an oil refinery was last Friday.

The Kremlin has not confirmed that Moscow signed off on the truce, with a spokesman saying only that “contacts on this matter continue”.

Mr Trump’s efforts to stop the fighting have made no progress.

Ukrainian officials say they are pushing back Russian forces in eastern Ukraine, which Russia’s bigger army has been trying to capture for years.

Ukraine has liberated 277 square kilometres in the operation that started in the summer, Ukraine’s Third Army Corps commander Brigadier General Andriy Biletskyi said Wednesday.

It was not possible to independently verify the claim, and Russian officials did not comment.

Ukrainian officials fear US support for the war effort is falling away after Mr Trump struck a deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin to import Russian diesel despite international efforts to sanction Russia for its invasion and isolate Mr Putin.

Ukrainian officials said the deal would help Russia continue its invasion, while European leaders fear Moscow’s wider ambitions on the continent and accuse Russia of sabotage as part of a hybrid war on the continent.

Mr Zelensky was due in London on Wednesday for talks with British Prime Minister Andy Burnham as Kyiv and its European supporters race to shore up Ukrainian defences.

The Ukrainian leader could go to Brussels to attend a European Union summit later this week after his London trip.

In a post on social media, Mr Zelensky said: “We ask America and EVERYONE in the world who does not turn a blind eye to reality to respond — and to respond forcefully” to Russia’s ongoing aerial barrages.

“Russia has squandered the opportunity for de-escalation and has clearly chosen to continue its insane war of annihilation,” he said.

The Russian Defence Ministry said in a statement on Wednesday that its forces attacked Ukraine’s energy infrastructure in Kyiv, the wider Kyiv region and the northeastern Kharkiv region overnight, striking a total of six power plants.

Russian forces hit all three of Kyiv’s combined heat and power plants overnight into Wednesday, Prime Minister Serhii Koretskyi said on Telegram.

At least 600,000 people were left without power, Mr Zelensky said.

Russia fired 39 ballistic missiles and more than 120 drones at energy and critical infrastructure in Kyiv, the Kyiv region and Kharkiv overnight, Mr Zelensky said.

Ukrainian officials are concerned that US support with military intelligence and the use of tech titan Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite communications system may be in jeopardy.

Ukraine uses Starlink for defence against aerial attacks and for long-range drones targeting military sites in Russia.

Mr Musk’s SpaceX overnight imposed a speed limit on Ukraine’s Starlink terminals mounted on drones, Serhii Beskrestnov, an adviser to Mr Zelensky, said on Telegram.

Ukraine’s drones rely on Starlink for control in flight. The speed restrictions significantly complicate logistics, the work of unmanned systems units and mid-range strike operations, among other things, officials say.

“Obviously, this action cannot be a coincidence and is connected to the current political situation,” Mr Beskrestnov said, without elaborating.

SpaceX made no immediate comment.

Ukraine didn’t receive the usual advance warning from its partners of Russian missile attacks that hit Kyiv, Mr Zelensky said Tuesday.

He did not specify which partners he was talking about when referring to the lack of a warning, but the development raised fears that the US may not be providing Kyiv with usual intelligence.

Five people were killed and 36 injured in a Russian attack on the Ukrainian capital that lasted from Tuesday evening into Wednesday morning, Kyiv police said.

However, Mr Trump has said the US has not stopped sharing intelligence with Ukraine, and a person on Ukraine’s parliamentary Defence Committee told The Associated Press that intelligence sharing with international partners has not stopped.

Ukraine is trying to fight back with attacks on other targets on Russian soil.

Russian air defences overnight downed 902 Ukrainian drones over multiple Russian regions, illegally annexed Crimea and the waters of the Azov Sea, the Russian Defence Ministry said in a separate statement.

Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said 493 drones flew toward the Moscow region. Most were downed far away, and 180 were intercepted as they approached the Russian capital, he said.

He did not report any damage or casualties.

In Russia’s Saratov region, one person was killed and several residential buildings were damaged, Governor Roman Busargin said.

Russia’s state-backed Sberbank confirmed an attack on its Saratov data centre, once slated to become Europe’s biggest data centre.

Russian state news agency Tass quoted Alexander Vedyakhin, Sberbank’s first deputy chairman of the board, as saying that Sberbank systems were operating normally.

Mr Burnham, the British prime minister, vowed to keep backing Ukraine in the war.

“My message to the Ukrainian people could not be clearer: we are with you for as long as it takes, and we will go further and faster in our support to back your courageous fight for peace in Europe,” he said ahead of Mr Zelensky’s visit.

Analysts noted that Mr Trump’s latest moves girded Europe into standing firm behind Kyiv.

“Ahead of a tough winter for Ukraine, Donald Trump’s swing back toward Russia bodes ill,” Rym Momtaz of Carnegie Europe wrote Tuesday. “But instead of panicking, Kyiv’s European allies are focusing on action.”

Britain, like the European Union, is also looking to impose more sanctions on Russia.