A Russian drone and missile barrage on Kyiv and its suburbs killed one person, wounded two dozen and cut off heating and electricity for hundreds of thousands of people left in freezing temperatures. 

An air alert lasted several hours after loud overnight explosions, some accompanied by bright flashes that turned the sky orange, according to reporters in Kyiv.

The attack killed a 47-year-old woman, Kyiv regional governor Mykola Kalashnyk said. 

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that the attack on Kyiv showed Russia does "not want to end the war."

Zelenskyy said some 500 drones and 40 missiles pounded the capital and its surrounding region. 

"Russian representatives engage in lengthy talks, but in reality, Kinzhals and 'shaheds' speak for them," he said, referring to the Kinzhal ballistic missiles and the Shahed drones used in Russia's daily strikes. 

"They do not want to end the war and seek to use every opportunity to cause Ukraine even greater suffering and increase their pressure on others around the world," he added. 

A third of Kyiv without heating

Ukraine's air force announced a countrywide air alert early on Saturday and said that drones and missiles were moving over several Ukrainian regions. 

A third of Kyiv has been left without heating after a vast overnight Russian attack, Ukraine's Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said.

"Russia's only response to peace efforts is brutal attacks using hundreds of drones and missiles against Kyiv and other cities and regions," Sybiha wrote on X.

The temperature in the capital hovered around zero degrees Celsius (32 Fahrenheit) on Saturday.

Over 2,600 residential buildings, 187 nurseries and 138 schools in Kyiv have been left without heat after an overnight Russian attack, the city administration said.

The attack came ahead of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's meeting with US President Donald Trump in Florida on Sunday to discuss a proposed plan to end the fighting that has killed tens of thousands since 2022. 

Russia accused Zelenskyy and his EU backers on Friday of seeking to "torpedo" the US-brokered plan.

The latest plan is a 20-point proposal that would freeze the conflict on its current frontline but open the door for Ukraine to pull back troops from the east, where demilitarized buffer zones could be created, according to details revealed by Zelenskyy this week.

Sunday's meeting to discuss new peace proposals comes as Trump intensifies efforts to end Europe's worst conflict since World War II, one that has killed tens of thousands since February 2022.

'Unshakeable commitment for lasting peace'

Zelenskyy meanwhile said he held telephone talks on Friday with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, Germany's Chancellor Friedrich Merz and a host of other European leaders.

A spokesperson for Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the leaders "reiterated their unshakeable commitment for a just and lasting peace for Ukraine and the importance that talks continue to progress towards this in the coming days."

The new plan formulated with Ukraine's input is Kyiv's most explicit acknowledgement yet of possible territorial concessions and is very different from an initial 28-point proposal tabled by Washington last month that adhered to many of Russia's core demands.

Part of the plan includes separate US-Ukraine bilateral agreements on security guarantees, reconstruction and the economy. Zelenskyy said those were changing on a daily basis.

"We will discuss these documents, security guarantees," he said of Sunday's meeting.

"As for sensitive issues, we will discuss (the eastern region of) Donbass and the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, and we will certainly discuss other issues," he added.

Russia signals opposition to new plan

Russia signaled its opposition to the plan ahead of the Florida talks.

The Kremlin said that foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov had held telephone talks with US officials, and deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov criticized Zelenskyy's stance.

"Our ability to make the final push and reach an agreement will depend on our own work and the political will of the other party," Ryabkov said on Russian television.

"Especially in a context where Kyiv and its sponsors - notably within the European Union, who are not in favor of an agreement - have stepped up efforts to torpedo it."

He said the proposal drawn up with Zelenskyy's input "differs radically" from points initially drawn up by US and Russian officials in contact this month.

He said any deal had to "remain within the limits" fixed by Trump and Russia's President Vladimir Putin when they met in Alaska in August, or else "no accord can be reached."

Zelenskyy said this week there were still disagreements between Kyiv and Washington over the two core issues of territory and the status of the Zaporizhzhia plant.

Washington has pushed Ukraine to withdraw from the 20 percent of the eastern Donetsk region that it still controls - Russia's main territorial demand.

It has also proposed joint US-Ukrainian-Russian control of Zaporizhzhia, Europe's largest nuclear plant, which Russia seized during the offensive.

Concessions for Ukraine

Zelenskyy said he could only give up more land if the Ukrainian people agree to it in a referendum, and he does not want Russian participation in the nuclear plant.

Ukraine appears to have won some concessions in the new plan, which, according to Zelenskyy, removed a requirement for Kyiv to legally renounce its bid to join NATO as well as previous clauses on territory seized by Russia since 2014 being recognised as belonging to Moscow.

But Moscow has shown little inclination to abandon its hardline territorial demands that Ukraine fully withdraw from Donbass and end efforts to join NATO.

Zelenskyy said Ukrainian negotiators were not directly in touch with Moscow, but that the United States acted as intermediary and was awaiting Russia's response to the latest proposal.

"I think we will know their official response in the coming days," Zelensky said. "Russia is always looking for reasons not to agree.”

Russia's strikes prompted the temporary closure of Rzeszow and Lublin airports in southeastern Poland, to the west of Ukraine, after the Polish armed forces scrambled fighter jets, the Polish Air Navigation Services Agency posted on X.

Russia made no immediate comment on the attacks.

Amid the continued fierce fighting, territory remains the main diplomatic stumbling block.