Russia Bombards Ukraine’s Energy Grid After Zelenskyy Says His Team Will Hold Talks With The US

By ILLIA NOVIKOV Associated Press
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia targeted Ukraine’s energy infrastructure in a large-scale missile and drone bombardment during the night, officials said Friday, hours after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that talks with the U.S. on ending the three-year war will take place next week.
Ukraine came under a “massive missile and drone” attack, Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko wrote on Facebook. At least 10 people, including a child, were wounded, authorities said.
“Russia is trying to hurt ordinary Ukrainians by striking energy and gas production facilities, without abandoning its goal of leaving us without light and heat, and causing the greatest harm to ordinary citizens,” Halushchenko wrote.
Russia has repeatedly targeted Ukraine’s power grid during the war. The attacks have depleted electricity generation capacity and disrupted critical heating and water supplies. Ukrainian officials have accused Russia of “weaponizing winter” in an effort to erode civilian morale.
Zelenskyy on Friday won the support of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for Ukraine’s proposals to take some first steps toward stopping the war, including a halt on firing missiles, drones and bombs at energy and other civilian infrastructure. Zelenskyy has also proposed ceasing combat operations in the Black Sea to allow safe shipping.
Erdogan said that he also wants the shooting to stop without delay.
“We support the idea of an immediate ceasefire and the cessation of attacks in the air and at sea as a confidence-building measure between the parties,” he said in a video call with European leaders.
Zelenskyy first suggested those initial steps in a post on X on Tuesday, when he said that he was ready to work under U.S. President Donald Trump’s “strong leadership” to get a lasting peace, and has put them to Ukraine’s European allies.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Friday that the energy supply is a legitimate target in the war, because it’s “linked with Ukraine’s military industrial complex and weapons production.”
Russian air defenses downed 39 Ukrainian drones overnight, according to the Russian Defense Ministry.
Ukraine’s largest private gas producer, DTEK, said that the overnight bombardment in the Odesa region was Russia’s sixth attack in the past two and a half weeks on its facilities.
Russia fired 67 missiles from air, land and sea, and launched 194 strike and decoy drones, Ukraine’s air force said. Their primary target was Ukraine’s natural gas extraction facilities, it said.
For the first time, Ukraine deployed French Mirage-2000 warplanes delivered a month ago to help repel the attack, according to the air force. Ukraine also has Western-supplied F-16 fighter jets to shoot down Russian missiles.
Ukrainian defenses downed 34 missiles and 100 drones, the air force said, while up to 10 missiles didn’t reach their targets and 86 drones were lost from radars, presumably jammed by electronic warfare.
Western-supplied air defense systems are crucial for Ukraine’s fight, but further U.S. help is uncertain under Trump, who says he’s determined to end the war and has paused American military aid for Kyiv as a way of pressuring Zelenskyy to negotiate.
In his nightly address, Zelenskyy said Thursday that he would travel to Saudi Arabia on Monday to meet with the country’s crown prince, and his team would stay on to hold talks with U.S. officials.
Zelenskyy welcomed a European Union plan to bolster the continent’s defenses. He expressed hope that some of the new spending could be used to strengthen Ukraine’s own defense industry.
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