RUSSIA ATTACKS UKRAINE AHEAD OF INVASION’S 4TH ANNIVERSARY
At least one man was killed in Kyiv as Moscow launched a wave of drones and missiles, days after the latest round of U.S.-mediated talks to end the war.
Reporting from Lviv, Ukraine
Russia pounded Ukraine’s power grid on Sunday with hundreds of drones and dozens of missiles, killing at least one man in Kyiv, the capital, even as negotiators for both countries prepared for another round of peace negotiations in the coming days.
Explosions in the western city of Lviv killed a police officer, although it was not clear if Russia was behind those attacks.
Ukraine will mark the fourth anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion on Tuesday, days after the latest round of U.S.-mediated negotiations in Geneva concluded with little concrete progress.
President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine has said that the next round of talks is expected to be held by early March. In a speech on Saturday, Mr. Zelensky said he believed that in Geneva, the American negotiators had realized that the Russians were “the reason no truly meaningful results had yet been achieved.”
Hours later, the Russians resumed their attacks on infrastructure in Kyiv and central and southwestern Ukraine. The Ukrainian Air Force said it shot down 33 of 50 Russian missiles and 274 of 297 Russian drones. A 49-year-old man in Kyiv was killed and 15 people were injured, including four children, according to the Kyiv Regional Military Administration.
The Russians have relentlessly attacked the country’s electricity grid this winter, the coldest in more than 10 years. At times, Ukrainians have survived on just a few hours of electricity and heat per day.
The extent of the damage to Ukraine’s power grid from the latest round of attacks was unclear on Sunday morning. Technicians have been working constantly to repair the damage from previous attacks.
Russia has not claimed responsibility for the explosions in Lviv. A woman was arrested in connection with the attacks on Sunday morning, the Ukrainian authorities said.
At 12:30 a.m. on Sunday, a person called Lviv’s emergency hotline to report a break-in at a business complex where stores sell shoes, household chemicals and mobile phones. That is 30 minutes after curfew, meaning that people were not supposed to be on the street. After a police crew arrived, the first explosion occurred, according to the Lviv Regional Prosecutor’s Office. Videos showed police cars at a large intersection, their lights flashing.
“Does anyone have a tourniquet,” a man shouted.
A crowd of police officers and other emergency workers milled about. Some people came down from their apartments to watch. Then came the second explosion, just outside the door of a business school.
A 23-year-old policewoman was killed, the prosecutor’s office said. A patrol car and a civilian vehicle were damaged, windows of nearby stores were blown out, and at least 24 people were injured.
Andriy Sadovyi, the mayor of Lviv, said in a video filmed near the site of the explosions that the attack was “definitely a terrorist act,” although he offered no proof.
The Ukrainian authorities have repeatedly accused Russian intelligence agents of recruiting Ukrainians online for years, offering money to put makeshift bombs in places like railway stations or military recruitment centers.
Oleksandra Mykolyshyn contributed reporting from Lviv and Stanislav Kozliuk from Kyiv, Ukraine.
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Kim Barker is a Times reporter writing in-depth stories about the war in Ukraine.