Russian strikes hit Ukraine's energy system as trilateral peace talks continue

US-brokered talks between Ukraine and Russia resumed in Abu Dhabi, a source familiar with the situation told reporters.

The rare trilateral talks to end the nearly four-year conflict began in the UAE on Friday. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said senior representatives from Ukraine's armed forces and military intelligence would join the talks on Saturday.

Meanwhile, Russia launched another attack on Ukraine's energy system in the small hours of Saturday, rocking Kyiv with explosions throughout the night and leaving 1.2 million properties without power countrywide.

Kyiv under attack

Russian strikes killed one person and injured at least 31 others in Ukraine's capital and the northeastern city of Kharkiv overnight, authorities said.

The country was under an air raid alert with military authorities in Kyiv warning of drones and ballistic missiles.

"Kyiv is under a massive enemy attack. Do not leave shelters!" Mayor Vitali Klitschko posted on Telegram, adding that several non-residential buildings had been hit.

Nearly 6,000 buildings in Ukraine's capital city Kyiv were left without heat after an overnight Russian attack, Klitschko said.

Fires broke out in several buildings hit by drone debris while heat and water services in parts of the capital were interrupted, he said.

Drone strikes in Kharkiv

Farther east in Ukraine's second city Kharkiv, Mayor Igor Terekhov reported an attack by drones had damaged several residential buildings near the Russian border.

The Mayor posted on Telegram that the drone strikes had injured 31 people in the Kharkiv region and also damaged two medical facilities.

The Russian Defense Ministry said its forces had completed the takeover of the village of Starytsya in Ukraine's northeastern Kharkiv region.

Territory is key

An initial US draft drew heavy criticism in Kyiv and western Europe for hewing too closely to Moscow's line, while later iterations prompted pushback from Russia for floating the idea of European peacekeepers.

Both sides say the fate of territory in the eastern Donbass region is one of the main outstanding issues in the search for a settlement to a conflict that has killed tens of thousands, displaced millions and decimated parts of Ukraine.

Russia's large overnight strike on Ukrainian energy facilities showed that agreements on air defense made with US President Donald Trump in Davos this week must be "fully implemented," President Zelenskyy said.

Zelenskyy and Trump met at the World Economic Forum and discussed air defense support for Ukraine, although afterwards neither leader specified what was agreed.

After the Russia-US talks in the Kremlin, Putin aide Yuri Ushakov insisted Moscow was "genuinely interested in resolving" the conflict diplomatically. 

But he added: "Until that happens, Russia will continue to achieve its objectives... on the battlefield."