The attack, which will knock out power to heating just as the Ukrainian winter approaches, saw an inferno lighting up the night sky above Kyiv’s left bank, following the missile strike
The Ukrainian capital has been rocked by massive explosions after Russia launched a ballistic missile strike which destroyed a power station.
A massive explosion and inferno ripped through parts of the city, lighting up the night sky above Kyiv’s left bank, following the missile attack.
The attack, which will knock out power to heating just as the Ukrainian winter approaches, came shortly after Vladimir Putin ’s envoy Kirill Dmitriev claimed in Washington that Russia, the US and Ukraine “are actually quite close to a diplomatic solution”.
But the fresh devastation on the ground tells a different story, with death and destruction raining down on the Ukrainian capital overnight amid the Russian strikes.
Donald Trump has said he will seek support from Chinese president Xi Jinping, a Putin ally, to stop the Russian war. Speaking at the start of a five day tour of Asia he said: “I will talk about how we can put an end to the war between Russia and Ukraine, whether it be through oil, energy, or something else.” He added: “We would like China to help us with Russia.”
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The statement came after a fresh round of US sanctions hit Moscow earlier this week, focused on Russia’s largest oil companies in a bid to inflict economic pain on Putin.
The overnight attack saw the CHP-6 power plant, which provides hot water heating for the left bank of Kyiv, destroyed. A kindergarten – the third in a week – was damaged and a warehouse complex was ablaze, with at least one dead and ten wounded in missile and drone strikes on the capital.
Supporters of the Russian invasion have called for a “complete de-electrification” of Ukraine.
Meanwhile in the Dnipropetrovsk region, two people died – a fire rescuer and a woman civilian – and almost a dozen wounded as private homes were damaged.
This followed the deaths of three from Russian strikes in Kherson a day earlier. Russia launched nine ballistic Iskander-M missiles and 62 strike drones at Ukraine.
There were dozens of thunderous explosions in Volgograd as Ukraine attacked a key link in the transmission of electricity primarily to Moscow and other regions. Ukraine also reportedly used HIMARS missiles to strike a dam in Russia’s Belgorod region, damaging sluice gates but not destroying the structure.
The latest strikes in the ongoing war come against a background of worry among Moscow diplomats following Trump’s latest oil sanctions, designed to hit a key source of income for the nation.
Dmitriev was reportedly dispatched to the US for back channel talks with Trump administration officials. In a statement the envoy tried to paint the conflict as closer to a resolution than many observers would suggest, despite the Kremlin ruling out Trump’s demand for an end to the conflict on the current frontline.
He even praised Zelensky saying: “It’s a big move by President Zelensky to already acknowledge that it’s about battle lines.
“His previous position was that Russia should leave completely – so actually, I think we are reasonably close to a diplomatic solution that can be worked out.”