Russia Pounds Ukrainian Energy in Diplomatic Snub, Zelensky Says

KYIV (Reuters) - On Tuesday 3 February 2026, President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Russia of exploiting a US-backed energy truce to stockpile munitions and using them to attack Ukraine with hundreds of drones and a record number of ballistic missiles, a day before peace talks.

Zelensky said Ukraine was waiting for US reaction to Russia's overnight attack that damaged Ukraine's energy infrastructure, as Washington had prompted a short-lived ceasefire in attacks on energy targets.

US President Donald Trump told reporters Russian President Vladimir Putin had made an agreement that expired on Sunday 1 February 2026.

"It was Sunday to Sunday, and it opened up and he hit them hard last night," he said at the White House. "He kept his word on that ... we'll take anything, because it's really, really cold over there. But it was on Sunday, and he went from Sunday to Sunday."

Asked if he was disappointed, Trump replied: "I want him to end the war."   

The attack knocked out heating in cities, including the capital Kyiv, during freezing temperatures, even as Ukrainian negotiators headed to Abu Dhabi for a second round of US-brokered trilateral talks set for Wednesday 4 and Thursday 5 February 2026.

"It was a deliberate attack against energy infrastructure, involving a record number of ballistic missiles," Zelensky wrote on X, a day after saying Moscow had largely observed the moratorium agreed by the two sides on energy facilities.

"The Russian army exploited the US proposal to briefly halt strikes - not to support diplomacy but to stockpile missiles."   

Pressure on Ukraine

Ukraine is under US pressure to agree to a peace deal while attacks by Russia on its energy system appear intended to freeze Ukrainians into submission.

The first round of trilateral talks in late January brought no movement on territorial issues, with Moscow demanding Kyiv cede more land in eastern Ukraine, which it refuses to do.

Sharpening his tone from previous days, Zelensky said on Tuesday 3 February 2026 the work of Ukraine's negotiators would be "adjusted accordingly" after the attack, but offered no details. 

Speaking to reporters in Kyiv at a press conference with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, he said Ukraine would approach Washington to discuss new consequences for Russia.

In his nightly video address, Zelensky said: "We expect a response from the United States to the Russian strikes. It was America's proposal to stop strikes on energy infrastructure during diplomatic efforts and the cold winter period."

Zelensky said Ukraine had been expected to make concessions, but it was also up to Russia to make concessions, mainly "to stop the aggression."

And if the United States and Europe did not have the power to stop Russian strikes, he asked, "then who will believe there is the power to guarantee that the war will not reignite again?"

New attacks on energy system

Ukrainian officials said Russia launched 450 drones and over 70 missiles in strikes that wounded at least twelve people and struck apartment blocks and energy infrastructure as temperatures hovered around -20 Celsius (-4 Fahrenheit).

An early evening strike on Tuesday in the southeastern city of Zaporizhzhia killed two eighteen-year-olds and injured nine people.

Deputy Prime Minister Oleksiy Kuleba said 1,142 apartment buildings in Kyiv remained without heating and officials in Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city, said 270,000 residents were in unheated apartments.

"The goal is obvious: to cause maximum destruction and leave the city without heat in severe cold," Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov wrote on Telegram, adding that a thermal plant in the city had been badly damaged.

Energy Minister Denys Shmyhal said a power plant in Kyiv's eastern suburbs had also been seriously damaged and officials were considering how to redirect resources to restore heating.

Russia and Ukraine said last week they had halted strikes on each other's energy infrastructure, but they disagreed on the timeframe for the moratorium. The Kremlin said it expired on Sunday. Kyiv said it should last until this Friday 6 February 2026.  

Much of Ukraine has been gripped by a new wave of cold after what experts said was the coldest January in six years. Families languish in frigid and darkened apartments during power outages and cuts to heating that last hours and days.

Kyiv resident Natalia Hlobenko, 35, described how she rushed to cover her eleven-year-old son just on Tuesday before an explosion sprayed her apartment with broken glass.

"Where is this ceasefire?" said a teary Hlobenko, bundled in her windowless apartment. "Honestly, how much can we take?" 

Sticking point remains in talks 

Zelensky has previously said Ukraine, which is struggling to stop grinding Russian battlefield advances, was ready for "substantive" talks. Moscow and Kyiv blame each other for the failure to agree a peace deal.

Territory remains the main sticking point, with Ukraine resisting Russia's demands that it cede the remaining 20% of the eastern region of Donetsk that Moscow has been unable to conquer since its 2022 invasion.

Ukraine's lead negotiator said Ukrainian officials would first hold bilateral talks with US officials in Abu Dhabi to discuss US security guarantees for any peace deal and a post-war reconstruction package, and later hold a trilateral meeting involving Russian negotiators.