Zelenskyy: Work of negotiating team will be adjusted following Russia's latest strike on energy

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said that the work of the Ukrainian delegation in peace talks will be adjusted following the Russian strike on the energy sector on 3 February.

Source: Zelenskyy on X (Twitter)

Quote: "Each such Russian strike confirms that attitudes in Moscow have not changed: they continue to bet on war and the destruction of Ukraine, and they do not take diplomacy seriously. The work of our negotiating team will be adjusted accordingly."

Details: During a meeting on Tuesday to review the situation in the regions, and especially in the energy sector, President Zelenskyy noted that this had been a deliberate Russian strike against Ukraine's energy infrastructure, involving a large number of ballistic missiles.

In effect, the Russians used the American proposal to pause strikes for a short period not to support diplomacy, but simply to stockpile missiles and wait for the coldest days of the year, when temperatures across much of Ukraine fall to minus 20 degrees Celsius and below (minus 4 degrees Fahrenheit and below), the president added.

There have been hits on energy facilities in several regions, with the greatest damage recorded in Kharkiv Oblast, Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, the city of Kyiv and Kyiv Oblast, Vinnytsia Oblast, Odesa Oblast and the city of Zaporizhzhia.

"All necessary forces are being engaged, and I have directed the Ministry of Energy, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the government as a whole to provide equipment from reserve stocks and to urgently contact partners regarding additional support packages. I am having a substantive discussion on this with [NATO Secretary General] Mark Rutte right now," the president added.

Background: On the night of 2-3 February, Russia carried out a combined strike on Ukraine using various types of air- and ground-launched missiles and attack drones. Air defence downed 450 Russian aerial assets out of 521 launched. Hits by 27 missiles and 31 attack drones were recorded at 27 locations.

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