Kyiv:
Russia launched a “massive” drone and missile attack on Ukrainian energy facilities Friday, as President Volodymyr Zelensky renewed calls for a mutual halt to aerial attacks on critical infrastructure.
The call from Zelensky to halt aerial bombardments on energy facilities builds on growing rhetoric from Kyiv, Washington and Moscow on halting the war, now in its fourth year.
The Ukrainian leader said the first steps to establishing real peace should be stopping both Russian and Ukrainian aerial and naval attacks.
“Ukraine is ready to go the way of peace, and it is Ukraine that wants peace from the very first second of this war. The task is to force Russia to stop the war,” he wrote in a post on social media.
The Ukrainian air force said Russia had launched at least 58 missiles and nearly 200 drones, damaging energy facilities across the country from Kharkiv in the east to Ternopil in the west.
Firefighters were battling a blaze on streets lined with debris in the Kharkiv region, images released by the emergency services showed.
The Kremlin responded to earlier calls by Zelensky for a halt to aerial attacks by ruling out any temporary ceasefire in Ukraine.
Zelensky’s allies abroad have voiced support for his truce proposal and on Friday Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who recently hosted the Ukrainian leader, also gave it his backing.
Air and sea truce
“We support the idea of establishing a ceasefire as soon as possible and stopping attacks in the air and at sea as a confidence-building measure between the parties,” Erdogan told an online meeting.
The Russian defence ministry confirmed on Friday it had carried out “precision” strikes on energy facilities, claiming they support the Ukrainian military.
Russia is “targeting facilities linked to Ukraine’s military-industrial complex,” Russian President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
The Ukrainian air force said it had deployed French Mirage fighter jets — delivered to Ukraine last month — for the first time to repel the aerial onslaught.
The fighter jets along with air defence units shot down 34 of the missiles and 100 drones.
DTEK, the largest private energy supplier in Ukraine, said its facilities in the Black Sea region of Odesa were targeted for a fourth night in a row.
And it said that gas facilities in the central Poltava region had “ceased operations” after being struck in the overnight attack.
State gas company Naftogaz also said its production facilities were damaged, without giving details.
Authorities in at least five Ukrainian regions said Russia had targeted energy facilities.
The latest Russian air assault came after EU leaders, shaken by the prospect of US disengagement, agreed to boost the European bloc’s defences.
US, Ukrainian officials to meet
And Washington said talks with Kyiv were back on track to secure a ceasefire with Moscow — after a public falling out between President Donald Trump and Zelensky.
US and Ukrainian officials were expected to meet Tuesday in Saudi Arabia, a senior Kyiv official said, with Zelensky voicing hope for a “meaningful meeting”.
Zelensky himself will travel to Saudi Arabia on Monday for talks with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
US envoy Steve Witkoff said he would speak to Ukrainian negotiators about an “initial ceasefire” with Russia and a “framework” for a longer agreement.
Ukraine’s energy minister German Galushchenko said Russia was trying to “hurt ordinary Ukrainians by shelling energy and gas production facilities”.
Eight people were wounded in a strike on Friday on Kharkiv, including a woman pulled from the rubble alive, city officials said.
Late Thursday, the Ukrainian emergency service also said “critical infrastructure” was damaged in an attack on the Odesa region in the south, with no injuries reported.
Missiles from Russia also struck a “critical industrial facility” overnight in the Ternopil region, governor Vyacheslav Negoda said.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)