Kyiv power plant struck in Feb. 3 Russian attack will take 'no less than 2 months' to repair, Mayor Klitschko says
Editor's note: This is a developing story and is being updated.
Parts of east Kyiv could be without heating for at least two months, officials have warned.
On Feb. 5, Kyiv Mayor Vitaliy Klitschko announced that repairs on the Darnytsia Thermo-Electric Station would take "no less than two months," even barring new strikes.
The Darnytsia thermal power station supplied heating to 1,100 apartment buildings on the eastern side of Kyiv and came under attack on Feb. 3, resulting in what Klitschko termed "critical damage."
Russia also struck thermal power plants and combined heat and power facilities supplying Kharkiv, and Dnipro during the Feb. 3 attack after the Kremlin previously said it would pause strikes on energy facilities, but only until Feb. 1.
More recently, Russian forces launched a drone attack on Kyiv overnight on Feb. 5, injuring at least two people, local officials reported.
After a short pause in strikes on Kyiv at the request of U.S. President Donald Trump, Russia has resumed attacks on the capital in recent days as residents continue to contend with freezing temperatures.
Explosions were heard in the capital around 2 a.m. local time, public broadcaster Suspilne reported. Shortly thereafter an explosion was again heard in the city around 4:15 a.m.
Klitschko said that the attack targeted various neighborhoods of the city, including the Obolonskyi, Darnytskyi, Shevchenkivskyi, and Solomianskyi districts of Kyiv.
Ukraine's State Emergency Service reported that fire broke out in a four-story office building in the Shevchenkivskyi district, with damage also reported at kindergarten in the Solomianskyi district of the city.
Officials said that parked cars caught on fire in the Obolonskyi district amid the drone attack, with four buildings in the Solomianskyi district also sustained window damage.
The latest attack on the capital comes as Russia, Ukraine, and the United States concluded the second round of trilateral talks in Abu Dhabi on Feb. 4, with another round of peace discussions expected to follow on Feb. 5.
Kremlin Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said following the meetings that the "door to a peaceful settlement remains open," but Russia will continue the war until Ukraine adopts the "relevant decisions" — without specifying what those decisions are.
Despite the ongoing talks, Russian President Vladimir Putin has not publicly indicated he has shifted his position from previous maximalist demands.
