Ukraine’s capital Kyiv and other cities under Russian attack, say officials
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People taking shelter in a metro station during a Russian air attack in Kyiv on Feb 3.
PHOTO: AFP
KYIV – Russian forces attacked Ukraine’s capital Kyiv, its second largest city of Kharkiv and other centres early on Feb 3, officials said, triggering fires and dealing new blows to energy infrastructure.
The strikes injured four people, officials in the two largest cities said.
They came on the eve of the next planned three-sided talks on resolving the nearly four-year-old war, to be held in the United Arab Emirates.
In Kyiv, as night-time temperatures dipped close to minus 20 deg C, Reuters witnesses reported loud explosions after midnight, saying both missiles and drones were being deployed.
The strikes caused damage in five districts, hitting three apartment blocks and a building housing a kindergarten, Mr Tymur Tkachenko, head of the city’s military administration, said on the Telegram messaging app.
Flames consumed an apartment on the upper floors of a Kyiv block in videos posted on social media.
An air raid alert stayed in effect for more than five hours.
A series of massive attacks on the capital since New Year’s Day have knocked out power and heating
Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov said the attacks targeted energy infrastructure and called for tough decisions to keep heating systems from freezing.
Coolant had to be drained from 820 apartment buildings supplied by a single thermal plant.
“The goal is obvious: to cause maximum destruction and leave the city without heat in severe cold,” Mr Terekhov wrote on the Telegram messaging app.
Public broadcaster Suspilne also said Russian strikes had knocked out power in two towns in the Kharkiv region – Izium and Balakliia – and struck two apartment buildings in the northern city of Sumy.
The attacks also coincided with talk of a moratorium on strikes on energy infrastructure
Russia said the ceasefire ended on Feb 1, while Ukraine said it would to continue for a week from Jan 30.
On Feb 1, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia had not targeted Ukrainian energy infrastructure with missile or drone strikes in the previous 24 hours, but steady Russian shelling hit energy facilities near the front line. REUTERS
