ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates, and KYIV, Ukraine — Ukraine accused Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday of ordering massive missile and drone strikes as negotiators from Russia, Ukraine and the United States met in Abu Dhabi for a second day to discuss a plan to end the nearly four-year war.
“Peace efforts? Trilateral meeting in the UAE? Diplomacy? For Ukrainians, this was another night of Russian terror,” Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga wrote on X. “Cynically, Putin ordered a brutal massive missile strike against Ukraine right while delegations are meeting in Abu Dhabi to advance the America-led peace process. His missiles hit not only our people, but also the negotiation table.” He added that the “barbaric attack” proved Putin’s place was “at the dock of the special tribunal,” not “at the board of peace.”
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Ukraine’s air force said Russia launched 375 drones and 21 missiles overnight, again targeting energy infrastructure and knocking out power and heat across large parts of Kyiv. Rescue workers and fire crews responded to a damaged apartment building in the capital, authorities said.
Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said about 800,000 people in Kyiv were left without electricity amid temperatures near minus 10 Celsius (14 Fahrenheit). Before Saturday’s barrage, the capital had already endured two mass overnight attacks since the New Year that disrupted power and heating to hundreds of residential buildings.
The strikes unfolded as the Abu Dhabi talks entered a second day with no public sign of progress. President Volodymyr Zelensky said the attacks underscored that agreements on air defense he discussed this week with U.S. President Donald Trump on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos must be “fully implemented.” Neither leader specified what was agreed, but Kyiv has repeatedly pressed for more systems to protect cities and critical infrastructure.
Zelensky said Friday it was too early to draw conclusions from the first day of meetings and urged Russia to demonstrate it was ready to end the war. Ahead of the talks, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Moscow had not dropped its insistence on Ukraine yielding all of the Donbas, the eastern industrial heartland encompassing Donetsk and Luhansk.
The scale and timing of the overnight offensive appeared to harden positions. Kyiv framed the onslaught as an attempt to intimidate negotiators and sabotage diplomacy, while emphasizing Ukraine’s dependence on strengthened air defenses to keep its grid functioning through winter.
The trilateral format in the United Arab Emirates, convened to explore a path toward ending the conflict, resumed Saturday with no immediate readout from the delegations. Ukraine said the latest strikes would not deter its participation but argued they should prompt faster delivery of promised air-defense support.
Russia did not immediately comment on the accusations that the assault was ordered to coincide with the talks. There were no immediate reports of casualties from the overnight barrage.
As the negotiations continued behind closed doors, Kyiv’s emergency crews worked to restore power and heat. For residents huddling in cold apartments across the capital, the outcome of the Abu Dhabi talks — and any concrete steps to bolster Ukraine’s defenses — could be measured in the lights turning back on.
By Abdiwahab Ahmed
Axadle Times international–Monitoring.
