Ukraine war briefing: second round of Abu Dhabi talks set for tense start after ‘massive’ strikes on Kyiv | World news

Senior Ukrainian and Russian officials are due to meet in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday for a second round of talks brokered by the Trump administration. The two-day talks are expected to mirror last month’s format, with negotiators from Washington, Kyiv and Moscow in attendance. Donald Trump has struck an upbeat tone in recent weeks, saying that an end to the four-year war is within reach. However, Moscow and Kyiv have tempered expectations, playing down the prospects of an immediate breakthrough. If the talks fail again, the four-year war is likely to continue until one side reaches a breaking point and is forced to give in.

Russia launched the “most powerful” attack this year on Ukraine’s battered energy facilities overnight, Kyiv said on Tuesday. Ukraine said Russia had attacked with 71 missiles and 450 attack drones. Six people were wounded in the capital, officials said, and a drone strike on the southern city of Zaporizhzhia also killed two teenagers and wounded at least 11 people. Russia’s defence ministry said it had launched “a massive strike” against “Ukrainian military-industrial complex enterprises and energy facilities”.

According to Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the strikes violated Russia’s agreement with Trump to hold off from attacking Ukraine’s energy systems in the depths of a freezing winter; and the ceasefire, which Trump first announced on Thursday, should have continued until this Friday, Luke Harding reports. In remarks after the latest strikes, Trump urged Putin to “end the war”, adding that he “would like” his Russian counterpart to extend the brief halt in attacks, but said the new strikes did not amount to a breach of the commitment Putin made to him. “We’ll take anything because it’s really, really cold over there,” Trump said. “But [the commitment] was on Sunday and he went from Sunday to Sunday.”

Overnight temperatures had plunged to -19C in Kyiv and -23C in Kharkiv, and more than 1,100 residential buildings remained without heat in Kyiv, as of late Tuesday, restoration minister Oleksiy Kuleba said. “Taking advantage of the coldest days of winter to terrorise people is more important to Russia than turning to diplomacy,” Zelenskyy said, denouncing the attack. He said Russia had “once again disregarded the efforts of the American side”, and wrote on X that the attack meant the work of his negotiators “will be adjusted”.

At a joint press conference with Zelenskyy on Tuesday, Nato secretary general Mark Rutte said that “Russian attacks like those last night, do not signal seriousness about peace”. An air alert blared out across Kyiv during his visit. Rutte said Ukraine was ready “to play ball” and come to a deal – acceptable to Kyiv – with the Russian side, but added that the attack was a “really bad signal” ahead of future negotiations. In an earlier address to Ukrainian parliament, he noted any agreement “will require difficult choices”.

Zelenskyy told media EU membership forms a key part of security guarantees but said the most important thing is what “Europeans would be ready to do if Russia will attack us again and what Americans will do”. Rutte agreed that Ukraine needs binding commitments and security guarantees in the case of future Russian aggression. Under a proposal discussed between Ukrainian, European and American officials, Kyiv has agreed with western allies that repeated breaches of any future ceasefire agreement from Russia would lead to a coordinated US-Europe military response, sources briefed on the discussions have told the Financial Times.

Russian officials said Ukrainian shelling has killed three people in the town of Nova Kakhovka. Kremlin-installed authorities said the shelling hit a municipal building and a fruit shop. Nova Kakhovka fell to Russian forces in the first days of their 2022 invasion.