ReutersA key energy facility supplying Kyiv with heating and electricity has been hit in a Russian ballistic missile attack, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said.
Darnytska CHP-4, or CHPP-4, and a residential building were hit in a strike the president said came with “no early warning from our partners”.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said two people had been killed and 21 injured in the missile strike on the apartment block late on Tuesday. He said “several energy facilities” in Kyiv had been hit in what he, without giving more detail.
Kyiv has reported multiple Russian strikes since US President Donald Trump said an energy ceasefire had been agreed by Russia and Ukraine two days ago.
Kyiv officials have urged residents to stay in shelters after declaring a red alert due to a “missile threat”.
Following the strikes on Tuesday, Zelensky said: “Ukraine supported an energy ceasefire. Russia is targeting yet another power plant and the lives of our people.
“This is absolutely unjust: when they are destroying our energy infrastructure, and Ukraine is not even receiving early warnings about ballistic missile launches,” he added.
“It is important that the world does not stay silent about this. And it is important that the United States really see what is happening and who is responsible for this war continuing.”
It is the second night in a row Kyiv has been hit by Russian missiles, and comes as Zelensky prepares to meet UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham at Downing Street on Wednesday to discuss accelerating air defence supplies to Kyiv.
Following strikes on Monday night, there was speculation America had cut off access to key intelligence enabling Ukraine to track incoming threats.
Earlier on Tuesday, Trump denied that was the case.
“We are helping them and we are sharing intel,” he said.
“We want the war to end. So we’re working with them and with Russia on getting the war to end.”
Asked about Russian strikes on Ukrainian energy sites, Trump said: “Ukraine hit many sites the day before.”
But he demurred when asked if Russia had broken a ceasefire. He said both countries want the war to “come to an end” but “just don’t know how to get there”.
It comes after Zelensky said on Sunday that a 60-day ceasefire would allow his country to hold presidential elections, following comments from Trump that “it’s time for Ukraine to get a new president”.
Following Trump’s announcement on Sunday, Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Ukraine doesn’t deserve the “respite” a ceasefire would bring.
Lavrov added that under any ceasefire, Europe would be able to “pump [Ukraine] with new weapons” for it to continue the war.
CHPP-4, which provides heating and electricity to the Dniprovskyi district and parts of the Darnytskyi district, has been hit multiple times during the war.
It was severely damaged in a separate Russian missile attack in February this year, which forced it to shut down.
That strike left more than 1,000 residential buildings without heating and hot water, along with 47 schools, 72 kindergartens and 18 medical institutions, according to Reuters.
