Two killed in mass Russian drone attack on Ukraine, Zelenskiy says

KYIV, Jan 18 (Reuters) – Two people were killed and dozens injured in a massive Russian drone strike in Ukraine overnight, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Sunday, as U.S. and Ukrainian negotiators agreed on a post-war plan in the latest round of peace talks.

Moscow has stepped up winter attacks on Ukraine’s energy system while waging a battlefield offensive at a time when Kiev faces US pressure to secure peace in the nearly four-year war.

Zelenskiy said that Sumy, Kharkiv, Dnipro, Zaporizhzhia, Khmelnytskyi and Odesa regions were targeted in the attack involving more than 200 unmanned aerial vehicles. The military said 30 attacks were recorded in 15 locations.

Mayor Ihor Terekhov, who reported that local energy facilities have suffered serious damage as a result of Russian attacks in recent days, said that one person was killed in Kharkiv, the second largest city.

It is not yet clear where the second person died.

Major cities, including the capital Kiev, faced power outages and heating outages, damaging Russia’s power grid already hobbled by the cold, leaving residents struggling with temperatures reaching -16 ⁠C.

On Saturday, Zelenskiy said he had ordered imports of electricity and additional power equipment to be accelerated as much as possible.

Russia’s latest mass attack came as US and Ukrainian officials met in Miami to discuss security guarantees and a post-war recovery package for Ukraine.

Washington forced Kiev to agree on a peace framework, which it then presented to Moscow; Moscow, however, reacted coolly to diplomatic pressure and demanded major concessions from Ukraine.

(Reporting by Dan Peleschuk; Editing by Elaine Hardcastle and Louise Heavens)