Zelenskyy vows new strategy after Russian strikes on Ukraine’s power grid

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has announced that the country’s negotiating team will revise its strategy following a Russian attack on the nation’s energy infrastructure overnight.

Writing on Telegram, Zelenskyy said the Russian military had taken advantage of a U.S. proposal for a short-term pause in strikes—not to support diplomacy, but to stockpile missiles and wait for the coldest days of the year, when temperatures across large parts of Ukraine can drop to -20°C or lower.

In the early hours of February 3, Russian forces carried out a large-scale overnight assault on Ukraine, launching 71 missiles, including 32 ballistic missiles, and deploying around 450 attack drones, according to the Ukrainian Air Force.

Ukrainian air defences intercepted 38 missiles and 412 drones, yet 27 missiles and 31 drones still struck targets across the country, with debris from intercepted drones falling at 17 sites. Ukrainian radar detected a total of 521 aerial attack systems, including Zircon, Oniks, Iskander-M, S-300, Kh-22, Kh-32, and Kh-101/Iskander-K missiles.

The attacks originated from multiple locations within Russia, including Bryansk, Kursk, Oryol, Shatalovo, Millerovo, Primorsko-Akhtarsk, as well as Russian-occupied Crimea and the Caspian Sea. Among the drones, about 300 were Shahed-type, supplemented by Gerbera and Ilmas models.

The main targets of the assault were Kyiv, Kharkiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Vinnytsia, and Odesa regions, while Ukrainian authorities continue to clarify the impact of six missiles that may have reached their intended targets.

By Aghakazim Guliyev