Ukraine condemns Russian new year drone attack on power infrastructure

Jan 1 (Reuters) – A Russian drone attack damaged power infrastructure in several Ukrainian regions overnight, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Thursday, while Moscow accused Ukraine of carrying out a ‍deadly new year attack in a Russian-controlled part of Ukraine.

“On New Year, Russia deliberately brings war. Over 200 attack drones were launched onto Ukraine in the night,” Zelenskiy wrote on Telegram.

Zelenskiy said energy infrastructure in seven regions across Ukraine had been targeted.

Russia accused Ukraine of killing at least ‌24 people, including a child, in a drone ‌strike on a hotel and cafe where civilians were seeing in the New Year in a Russian-controlled part of Ukraine’s southern Kherson region.

Ukraine’s military, which has accused Russia of killing thousands of civilians in its own ​attacks on Ukrainian cities, did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Moscow’s accusation.

Zelenskiy said that Russia’s holiday season ‍attacks showed Ukraine could not afford ​delays in air defence supplies.

“(Our) allies have the names ​of equipment which we are lacking. We expect that everything agreed ‍with the United States at the end of December for our defence will arrive on time,” he said, without clarifying further.

Zelenskiy met with U.S. President Donald Trump in Florida on Sunday to negotiate a peace framework to end the nearly four-year war. Both ‍leaders have said they are close to an agreement, but thorny issues around post-war control of territories remain.

The Ukrainian energy ministry said a “significant number” ‍of households in ‍the Volyn and Odesa regions – in northwestern and ​southwestern Ukraine, respectively – were disconnected from power supplies by ​the ⁠overnight strikes, as well as some in the ‌Chernihiv region north of the capital Kyiv.

The governor of Volant said more than 103,000 households in that region had lost power as a result of the attack. Volyn region is several hundred kilometres from the front line and borders NATO member Poland.

(Reporting by Max HunderEditing by Gareth Jones ⁠and Ros Russell)