Russian dictator Vladimir Putin broke a cease-fire truce with President Trump after just four days, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Tuesday — obliterating Ukrainian power plants as a part of a barbaric campaign to freeze civilians in the harsh winter.
The war-mongering leader ordered a mass bombardment of 450 long-range drones and 70 missiles, hitting at least five regions in Ukraine, specifically aiming at Kyiv’s power grid in the dead of winter.
“Taking advantage of the coldest days of winter to terrorize people is more important to Russia than diplomacy,” Zelensky wrote on X.
But Trump said that the energy cease-fire agreement — announced on Thursday — only lasted until Sunday, Feb. 1.
“It was Sunday to Sunday, and it opened up. And he hit them hard last night,” Trump told reporters on Tuesday afternoon in the Oval Office.
“He kept his word on that. It was — it’s a lot, you know, one week. We’ll take anything, because it’s really, really cold, over there, but it was on Sunday, and he went from Sunday to Sunday.”
Russia launched more than 520 drones and missiles overnight at Ukraine, hitting power plants and residential buildings. Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images
The attack came four days after President Trump said he secured a one-week cease-fire with Russia on energy facilities. AFP via Getty ImagesTuesday’s strike came just days after Trump announced that he brokered a short-term truce with Putin, with Russia allegedly agreeing to stop its attacks on Ukraine’s energy facilities for a whole week amid a brutal cold snap in the region.
The push from Trump came following reports of deaths due to the blackouts, including one where an elderly Holocaust survivor known as “Baba Zhenya” was found frozen to death in her apartment after electricity and heat failed during subzero temperatures.
The calm, however, did not last, with the overnight attack hitting several of Ukraine’s thermal power plants in the ninth major assault on energy facilities since October, according to the country’s largest private power company, DTEK.
By early Tuesday, 1,170 apartment buildings in the capital were left without heating, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said.
Ukraine has accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of specifically targeting Ukraine’s power plants as a means to inflict damage on civilians during a brutal winter. via REUTERSThe city had restored power to all but 80 apartment buildings before the overnight assault set back the desperate repair operations, Klitschko added.
The attack also left at least 10 people wounded, with kindergartens and residential buildings among those hit in the strike.
Harrowing images from Kyiv, where half the wounded were located, showed heavily damaged apartment buildings on fire following the Russian strike.
Firefighters in Kharkiv work to put out a blaze from the overnight drone attack. REUTERSUkrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said Tuesday’s attack serves as a warning that the Kremlin cannot be trusted to keep its word as Kyiv prepares for trilateral peace talks with the US and Russia in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday.
“Putin waited for the temperatures to drop and stockpiled drones and missiles to continue his genocidal attacks against the Ukrainian people,” Sybiha said in a statement.
“Neither anticipated diplomatic efforts in Abu Dhabi this week nor his promises to the United States kept him from continuing terror against ordinary people in the harshest winter,” the foreign minister added.
Along with condemning the attack, Zelensky urged Western allies to unite to help Kyiv fend off the Russian attacks against its power plants.
“Timely delivery of missiles for air defense systems and the protection of normal life are our priority,” Zelensky said. “Without pressure on Russia, there will be no end to this war.”
With Post wires
