Russia launches year's biggest attack on Ukraine ahead of fresh peace talks

Russia launched its biggest drone and missile attack this year on Ukraine overnight, leaving hundreds of thousands without heating in freezing temperatures, one day ahead of fresh talks aiming to find an end to the four-year conflict.

The strikes hit as Ukraine was experiencing the coldest temperatures during the Russian offensive and damaged an iconic Soviet-era WWII monument.

Russia's defense ministry has confirmed its forces carried out a massive strike on Ukrainian military-industrial and energy facilities overnight, according to the Interfax news agency.

The attacks came a day before Ukrainian and Russian negotiators were due to meet for a second round of talks in Abu Dhabi.

Reaching a peace deal to end the conflict will require tough choices, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said in an address to Ukraine's parliament during a visit to the capital Kyiv.

Russia opposes foreign intervention

Russia would regard the deployment of any foreign military forces or infrastructure in Ukraine as foreign intervention and treat those forces as legitimate targets, the Foreign Ministry said, citing Minister Sergei Lavrov.

It said Western countries - which have discussed a possible deployment to Ukraine to help secure any peace deal - had to understand "that all foreign military contingents, including German ones, if deployed in Ukraine, will become legitimate targets for the Russian Armed Forces."

Ukraine has agreed with Western partners that what it deems any persistent Russian violations of a future ceasefire agreement would trigger a coordinated military response from Europe and the US, the Financial Times reported, citing people briefed on the discussions.

This report could not be independently verified.

As per the proposal, any Russian breach of a ceasefire would prompt a response within 24 hours, starting with a diplomatic warning and, if necessary, action by the Ukrainian army to halt the infraction, the newspaper said.

If hostilities continued beyond that, the proposal would move to a second phase of intervention using forces from the so-called coalition of the willing, which includes many EU members and the UK, Norway, Iceland and Türkiye, the report said.

The report added that in the case of an expanded attack, a coordinated response by a Western-backed force, incorporating the US military, would be triggered 72 hours after the initial breach.

Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy chairman of Russia's Security Council, called the proposal unacceptable for Russia.

Multiple strikes

Journalists heard explosions across the Ukrainian capital overnight and residents in over 1,000 buildings woke up to find their heating cut off as temperatures dipped towards minus 20 Celsius.

The Kremlin had last week said it agreed to a US request not to strike Kyiv for seven days, ending Sunday.

Ukraine had not reported large-scale Russian attacks on the capital last week, while noting continued attacks in other parts of the country. 

"Several types of ballistic and cruise missiles, as well as drones, were used to strike high-rise buildings and thermal power plants," Energy Minister Denys Shmygal said.

"Hundreds of thousands of families, including children, were deliberately left without heat in the harshest winter frosts," he added.

Russia attacked with 71 missiles, as well as 450 drones, the Ukrainian air force said. Ukraine said it intercepted or destroyed 38 missiles and 412 drones.

Five people were wounded in the capital, officials said, adding that thousands were without electricity.

The base of the city's towering Soviet-era Motherland statue was damaged.

In Kharkiv, the hours-long attack targeted energy infrastructure and aimed to "cause maximum destruction... and leave the city without heat during severe frost", Governor Oleg Synegubov wrote on Telegram.

Authorities had to cut heating to more than 800 homes to prevent the wider network from freezing, he said, urging people to go to round-the-clock "invincibility points" around the city if they needed to warm up.

Overnight temperatures plunged to minus 19C in Kyiv and sank as low as minus 23C in Kharkiv.

Trilateral talks

Washington has sought to craft a settlement between the two sides, but the first round of trilateral talks held in Abu Dhabi last weekend failed to yield a breakthrough.

A second round is due to begin on Wednesday in the Emirati capital.

Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelenskyy said that recent "de-escalation" with Russia was helping build trust in negotiations, apparently referring to a break in attacks on energy facilities.

The second round of talks is expected to focus on territory - with no breakthrough so far on the crucial issue.

Russia wants full control of Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region, which Kyiv has ruled out, saying such a move would only embolden Moscow.

Moscow's troops accelerated their advance in Ukraine throughout January, capturing almost twice as much land as in the previous month, according to an AFP news agency analysis.

Russia seized 481 square kilometers (186 square miles) in January, according to the analysis of data from the Institute for the Study of War, which works with the Critical Threats Project.

The January gains were up from 244 square kilometers in December 2025.

View from the Kremlin

Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump said his administration might have some good news soon on its push to end the nearly four-year conflict.

Zelenskyy said that Russia had not carried out any targeted missile or drone strikes on Ukrainian energy infrastructure in the past 24 hours, but steady Russian shelling hit energy facilities near the frontline.

He said the pause in strikes on energy infrastructure underscored the fact that US efforts to pursue negotiations to end the conflict were having an impact.

"This demonstrates that when the United States has the motivation to genuinely change the situation, the situation can indeed change," Zelenskyy said.

Russia and Ukraine said last week they halted strikes on each other's energy infrastructure, but disagreed on the timeframe for the truce.

The Kremlin said Trump had made a personal request to Russian President Vladimir Putin to refrain from striking Kyiv until February 1. Zelenykyy said the truce was supposed to last for a week, starting January 30.

The Kremlin said it had heard no statements from India about halting purchases of Russian oil after President Trump said New Delhi had agreed to stop such purchases as part of a trade accord with Washington.

Trump announced a trade deal with India that slashes US tariffs on Indian goods to 18 percent from 50 percent in exchange for India halting Russian oil purchases and lowering trade barriers.

India became the top buyer of discounted Russian seaborne crude after Moscow's conflict in Ukraine began in 2022.

The Kremlin also welcomed FIFA president Gianni Infantino's comments on ending a ban on Moscow from international competitions over its Ukraine campaign, while Kyiv denounced his words as "irresponsible."

Russia has been mostly banned from international sport since the military campaign began in February 2022.

A few Russian athletes in other sports have been allowed to compete again under a neutral flag.

'A critical point'

Ukraine is struggling to restore its battered energy system and secure electricity and heat for the population after several large Russian strikes this month. Repair work has been complicated by bitterly cold temperatures.

"Today we are coming to a critical point. We need some time to recover what has been destroyed for the last three months," said Maxim Timchenko, CEO of private energy producer DTEK. "Energy ceasefire is extremely important for us to recover partly and avoid any tragic consequences because of no power supply."

DTEK said one of its coal mining enterprises in the Dnipropetrovsk region had been attacked for the second time in 24 hours. The previous strike on Sunday killed 12 miners, the company said.

Zelenskyy also said Russian forces were focusing on attacking transport logistics, especially railway infrastructure.

The ministry said Moscow valued the "purposeful efforts" of the US administration in working towards a resolution and understanding Russia's long-running concerns about NATO's eastward expansion and its overtures to Ukraine.

Nuclear arms limits

Russia is ready for the new reality of a world with no nuclear arms control limits after the New START treaty expires later this week, Moscow's point man for arms control said.

Unless Moscow and Washington reach a last-minute bilateral understanding of some kind, the New START treaty, signed in 2010 by US President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, will expire on February 5.

"The lack of an answer is also an answer," Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov was quoted by state news agency TASS as saying in Beijing in the absence of a response from Washington on Russian proposals to extend the limits of New START.

Russia was ready for the new reality of the world's two largest nuclear powers having no limits for the first time in decades, Ryabkov said.

However, the Kremlin said that abandoning limits on the strategic nuclear arsenals of Russia and the US would be very bad for global security.