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Ukraine and Russia traded deadly blows Tuesday, firing hundreds of drones in overnight assaults that came just hours before Washington officials met with their Kyiv and Moscow counterparts to discuss a new proposal to end the war.
Moscow fired 460 drones and 22 missiles at Ukraine during the exchange, killing seven people and wounding 21 others in the second major attack on the Ukrainian capital this month, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said.
“The main Russian attack overnight targeted the capital and the region, causing extensive damage to residential buildings and civilian infrastructure across the city,” Zelensky wrote on X.
The Russian assault knocked out water, electricity and heating services across Kyiv, with Ukrainian officials condemning Moscow’s repeated strikes against civilian energy facilities as winter approaches.
At least one major energy facility was hit in the overnight attack, which left six people wounded, including two children, according to Kyiv’s energy ministry.
The strikes ultimately disrupted electricity supplies to more than 102,000 people within five Ukrainian regions, according to the energy ministry.
Ukrainian officials also said port and energy facilities were damaged in the Black Sea port of Odessa, with the attack leaving six people injured.
The large-scale assault led NATO to scramble its jets when Russian drones reportedly entered Romanian airspace yet again, in what officials described as the furthest the UAVs have gone into the country since the incursions began earlier this year.
At least six drones also entered into neighboring Moldova, which is not a NATO member, according to local authorities.
Ukraine retaliated with its fourth-largest drone attack of the war so far, firing more than 249 UAVs overnight across the border, according to the Russian Ministry of Defense.
The assault killed at least three people in the city of Taganrog, leaving eight other injured, according to regional Gov. Yuri Slyusar.
The assault also struck an aviation repair plant, a drone production facility, an oil refinery and an oil terminal, all key targets for Ukraine to slow down Russia’s war machine.
Despite the large-scale fighting, President Trump has insisted that both sides are getting closer to agreeing to a cease-fire deal after meetings with American negotiations in the United Arab Emirates on Tuesday.
The US and Ukraine have drafted a new 19-point peace plan to secure an end to the war, which has raged on for nearly four years.
Trump said he will send special envoy Steve Witkoff to Russia and Army Secretary Dan Driscoll to Ukraine as part of a final push towards getting a peace plan signed.
With Post Wires
