Russian attacks on Ukraine kill 1 ahead peace talks
Russian attacks on Ukraine killed at least one person and wounded 31 overnight into on Saturday as negotiators from Ukraine, Russia and the United States were to meet in the United Arab Emirates for a second day of talks to end Russia’s nearly four-year full-scale invasion. One person was killed, and four were wounded in Russian drone attacks on the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, according to Kyiv City Military Administration head Tymur Tkachenko.
In Ukraine’s second-largest city, Kharkiv, drone attacks wounded 27 people, Kharkiv regional head Oleh Syniehubov said Saturday. The attacks came as envoys were expected to meet in Abu Dhabi, the UAE capital, for a second day of talks on Saturday. The talks are the first known instance that officials from the Trump administration have sat down with both countries as part of Washington’s push for progress to end Moscow’s nearly 4-year-old invasion.
The UAE’s foreign ministry said the talks are part of efforts “to promote dialogue and identify political solutions to the crisis.” The White House described Friday’s first day as productive. Following the latest attacks, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha slammed Russian President Vladimir Putin over the onslaught. “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,” Sybiha wrote on X. “His missiles hit not only our people, but also the negotiation table.”
There has been a flurry of diplomatic activity in recent days, from Switzerland to the Kremlin, even though serious obstacles remain between both sides. While Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in Davos, Switzerland, on Thursday that a potential peace deal was “nearly ready,” certain sensitive sticking points — most notably those related to territorial issues - remain unresolved. Just hours
before the three-way talks began, Putin discussed a Ukraine settlement with US President envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner during marathon overnight talks. The Kremlin insists that to reach a peace deal, Kyiv must withdraw its troops from the areas in the east that Russia illegally annexed but has not fully captured. A paramedic giving first aid to a resident who was injured in a Russian airstrike in Kharkiv, Ukraine.
Kyiv Residents Trapped in Dark Towers
Kyiv: Olena Janchuk spends another day of freezing isolation in her high-rise apartment. The former kindergarten teacher suffers from severe rheumatoid arthritis, and has been trapped for weeks on the 19th floor of her Kyiv tower block, 650 steps from the ground. Long daily blackouts caused by Russia’s bombardment of power plants and transmission lines have made working elevators a luxury.
With January temperatures plummeting to -10 Celsius (14 degrees Fahrenheit), there’s a permanent line of frost on the inside of Janchuk’s windows, white patterns creeping across the glass by morning. The 53-year-old huddles over a makeshift fireplace of candles arranged beneath stacked bricks, designed to absorb and slowly release heat. USB charging cables snake across the floor from overloaded power strips, while her electric blanket is hooked up to a power bank rationed for the coldest hours.
“When there’s no light and heat for seventeen and a half hours, you have to come up with something,” she said. “The bricks work best in a small room, so we stay in there.” mBy day, the family shifts into rooms that catch the winter sun, the function of each space changing with the blackout schedule. At night, heavy clothes stay on indoors as the apartment cools rapidly without central heating. Kyiv, a city of about 3 million people, is dominated by tower blocks, many from the Soviet era, now left without power for most of the day.
