Thousands without power in freezing Ukraine as renewed Russian strikes continue

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky says more than 200 repair crews are working to restore power in Kyiv following widespread deadly Russian attacks targeting the country's energy sector.

More than 1,100 apartment buildings in the capital are still without power, Zelensky said, adding that he had spoken to officials about supporting communities in other affected parts of Ukraine.

In the eastern Ukrainian town of Druzhkivka, seven people were killed and fifteen injured in Russian cluster bomb strikes, the regional head said.

Moscow has recently renewed its attacks after a week-long pause that US President Donald Trump had asked Vladimir Putin to observe as a fierce cold swept Ukraine.

Meanwhile, US, Ukrainian and Russian officials are again meeting in Abu Dhabi to discuss details of a peace plan.

However, there a few signs a breakthrough is imminent during the second round of such trilateral talks in the United Arab Emirates.

Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

"As of today, the toughest situation is in Kyiv and the region, Kharkiv and the region, Sumy region, and Poltava region," Zelensky wrote on social media on Wednesday.

"It is also difficult in other parts of central Ukraine, including Dnipro and Cherkasy regions."

He added that more repair teams would be brought in to help restore power "to ensure proper rotation of crew members - people are exhausted."

Residents have been forced to spend the night sheltering in Kyiv's metro stations, with some pitching tents on the platforms to protect them from the freezing cold.

Authorities have set up centres around the city for people to go to warm up. They are also importing more generators to cope with longer blackout periods as engineers try to fix the damage.

In the north-eastern city of Kharkiv, a power plant has been damaged beyond repair.

Ukraine's Energy Minister, Denys Shmyhal, said the country's energy system would take some time to fix. This includes Kyiv's Darnytsia Combined Heat and Power (CHP) plant, which Shmyhal said had been "severely damaged".

Iryna Vovk is a psychologist who lives in Kyiv with her daughter. Her husband is away fighting.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Vovk said she was considering moving to her parents' village because of the problems accessing electricity and water in the capital.

"Here in Kyiv, life is very awful," she said.

Asked how her daughter is coping, Vovk said she was "okay in general".

"She tries to smile and lead a normal life but it's not a normal life. She cannot study [like] normal, she cannot use online lessons."

UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said Russia's attacks on Ukraine's energy sector on Monday night - as temperatures dropped to -20C (-4F) - were "barbaric" and "particularly depraved".

He made the comments following a phone call with Trump hours after Russia hit power plants and critical infrastructure in Kyiv and elsewhere.

Trump told reporters that Putin had "kept his word" on the week-long pause.

The agreement "was on Sunday, and he [Putin] went from Sunday to Sunday", Trump said when asked whether he was disappointed with Russia's renewed attacks.

"It's a lot, you know, one week, we'll take anything, because it's really, really cold over there."

The US president has been leading efforts to end the war, but his Russian counterpart has refused calls for a ceasefire.

The Ukrainian Air Force said it was attacked by more than 100 drones early on Wednesday. While it had intercepted most of these, it added, drone strikes were reported in 14 locations, along with falling debris.

Seven casualties were reported in Druzhkivka by Vadym Filashkin, the head of the eastern Donetsk region.

He wrote on Telegram that Russians had hit the city with cluster shells, including a busy market.

The head of Dnipropetrovsk's military administration, Oleksandr Ganzha, said a 68-year-old woman and a 38-year-old man were killed in a Russian attack.

In the Zaporizhzhia region, leader Ivan Federov said three people were killed and 11 wounded, including children, during attacks on Tuesday evening that continued overnight.

The Russian-controlled government in the neighbouring Luhansk region said a man and a woman were killed on Tuesday night in a drone attack, launched by Ukraine, which hit a minibus.

In Russia itself, the governor of the western Bryansk region, Alexandra Bogomaz, said Ukraine had launched a "combined attack" including drones and long-range missiles - destroying a residential building and injuring one person.

Further south in Belgorod, close to the border with Ukraine, governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said work was continuing to restore power and water services following a Ukrainian missile strike there earlier in the week.

Meanwhile, peace talks continue, with top US envoys again meeting negotiators from Russia and Ukraine in the UAE on Wednesday and Thursday.

Special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law, are joining teams of Russian and Ukrainian negotiators in the capital, Abu Dhabi, to try and thrash out a US-proposed peace deal.

The most difficult issue is territory, with Russia demanding that Ukraine cedes the rest of the eastern industrial region of Donbas that Moscow does not currently control.

The first talks between the three parties, which were also held in Abu Dhabi, ended earlier this month with no apparent result.