Ukraine talks set for next week as cold strains battered energy grid

U.S.-backed trilateral talks involving Ukraine and Russia will take place next week in Abu Dhabi, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Sunday, as Ukrainians faced uncertainty over the fate of an energy ceasefire with Russia amid plunging temperatures.

Kyiv is under U.S. pressure to agree peace terms in the nearly four-year war while grappling with a Russian campaign of airstrikes that has ravaged its energy system during one of the coldest winters in years.

The first round of negotiations took place in late January, but led to no new movement on the vital question of territory, with Moscow still demanding Kyiv cede more land in its war-torn east, which it refuses to do.

Zelensky said the new round would take place on February 4 and 5, and that Ukraine - struggling to stop grinding Russian advances on the battlefield - was ready for meaningful talks.

"Ukraine is ready for a substantive discussion, and we are interested in ensuring that the outcome brings us closer to a real and dignified end to the war," Zelensky wrote on X.

Workers race to restore heating

In the capital Kyiv, nearly 700 apartment buildings remained without heating on Sunday, said Deputy Prime Minister Oleksiy Kuleba, as a new wave of bitter cold swept across much of the country.

Temperatures in the city hovered around minus 15 degrees Celsius, as workers raced to restore heating after a widespread grid malfunction on Saturday knocked out power across parts of the country and heating to nearly 3,500 high-rises in Kyiv.

Officials did not directly link it to war damage, but the resulting blackouts - which spread to neighbouring Moldova - underlined the vulnerability of Ukraine's energy system after months of Russian attacks.

The Kremlin said two days ago it had agreed to halt strikes on energy infrastructure until Sunday at the request of U.S. President Donald Trump, and Kyiv said it would reciprocate.

Ukraine said the suspension was supposed to last until the following Friday.

The countries have not reported major strikes on their energy systems in recent days, though Zelensky said on Sunday that Russia was attempting "to destroy logistics and connectivity" through ongoing air attacks.

Russian attacks continue

A Russian drone attack on a bus carrying mine workers in Ukraine's central-eastern Dnipropetrovsk region Sunday killed at least 12 people, officials said.

The bus was driving in the vicinity of Ternivka, a town about 65 kilometres (40 miles) from the front line, according to police.

DTEK, Ukraine's largest private energy firm, said those killed were travelling from one of its mining facilities in the region after they had finished their shift.

Images published by Ukraine's state emergency service showed what appeared to be an empty bus, its side windows shattered and windscreen hanging from the front.

"The enemy drone hit near a company shuttle bus in the Pavlograd district. Preliminarily, 12 people were killed and seven more were wounded," the head of the regional military administration, Oleksandr Ganzha, said on Telegram.

In southeastern Ukraine, two people were killed overnight in a drone strike on a house in the city of Dnipro, and nine people were wounded in attacks on a maternity hospital and a residential neighbourhood in Zaporizhzhia, regional officials said.

Zaporizhzhia resident Daria Makarenko, 29, whose neighbour's house was damaged in one of the strikes, lashed out at Russia as she stood outside near the mangled structure.

"'We're not hitting energy, but we can destroy people'?" she said, mocking Moscow's forces while tearing up. "How can that be? Why are people to blame?"

Ukrainian private energy firm DTEK said on Sunday it had restored power to 300,000 households in the southern coastal region of Odesa, which had been hit hard by the grid malfunction.

Temperatures are expected to drop even further on Monday to well below minus 20 C in Kyiv. Grid operator Ukrenergo said late on Saturday that planned outages would be in force throughout the entire country.

Kyiv's energy ministry said on Sunday it was importing a record daily level of 41.987 gigawatt hours in January to keep the system stable.

Anatoliy Veresenko, a 65-year-old veteran who was out for a run at a Kyiv park, said he was warily anticipating new attacks and did not place much hope in the peace process.

"Talks are talks. We hope for peace, but we still need to fight and secure victory."