Ukraine’s capital of Kyiv, other cities under Russian attack, officials say

Emergency services at work after a Russian drone hit a city maternity hospital in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine. (AP)
Short Url
Updated 03 February 2026
Follow

Ukraine’s capital of Kyiv, other cities under Russian attack, officials say

  • The ‌strikes caused ‌damage in five districts, hitting three apartment ‌blocks ⁠and ​a building ‌housing a kindergarten

Russian forces attacked Ukraine’s capital of Kyiv, its second largest city of Kharkiv and other centers early on Tuesday, 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 in the United Arab Emirates.
In Kyiv, as nighttime temperatures dipped close to -20 degrees Celsius (-4 degrees F), 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, 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 to hundreds of apartment blocks and emergency ‌crews were still trying to restore heating systems ‍on Monday.
Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov ‍said the attacks targeted energy infrastructure and called for tough ‍decisions to keep heating systems from freezing. Coolant needed 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,” Terekhov wrote on Telegram.
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 adopted by both Russia and Ukraine at the request of US President Donald Trump.
Russia said the ceasefire ended on Sunday, while Ukraine said it was to continue for a week from January 30.
On Monday, 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.


UK, allies convinced Kremlin critic Navalny was poisoned

Updated 8 sec ago
Follow

UK, allies convinced Kremlin critic Navalny was poisoned

  • That was the conclusion of the five ⁠governments based on analyzes ‌of ‌samples from Alexei Navalny – statement
LONDON: Britain and allies France, Germany, Sweden and the Netherlands are convinced that late Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny was poisoned with a lethal ‌toxin in a ‌penal colony ‌two ⁠years ago, they ⁠said in a joint statement on Saturday.
That was the conclusion of the five ⁠governments based on analyzes ‌of ‌samples from Navalny, ‌according to the ‌statement issued in London.
It added that the analyzes had conclusively ‌confirmed the presence of epibatidine, a toxin ⁠found ⁠in poison dart frogs in South America and not found naturally in Russia. The Russian government has denied any responsibility for Navalny’s death.