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 Zelensky said talks with the US on ending the 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 injured, 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. Ukrainian officials have accused Russia of "weaponizing winter" in an effort to erode civilian morale, the AP reports. Russia fired 67 missiles from air, land, and sea and launched 194 strike and decoy drones, Ukraine's air force 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 US help is uncertain under President Trump, who says he is determined to end the war and has paused American military aid and intelligence-sharing with Kyiv as a way of pressuring Zelensky to negotiate. Earlier this week, French President Emmanuel Macron proposed a monthlong ceasefire "in the air, at sea, and on energy infrastructure" as the first step toward a peace deal. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov denied Friday that the overnight attack was linked to Russia's rejection of the proposal, the BBC reports. "Our military continues the special military operation," he said.
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