War

Overnight attacks trigger evacuations ‘under fire’ at Kyiv medical facility while European leaders gather to seek peace plan breakthrough. What we know on day 1,413

Russian strikes on Ukraine early on Monday killed two people and forced night-time evacuations into freezing temperatures, a day ahead of Ukrainian allies meeting in France to revive diplomatic efforts to stop the fighting. Donald Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner will attend the Paris meeting of the so-called “coalition of the willing” on Tuesday – being hosted by French president Emmanuel Macron – to discuss security guarantees as part of a peace proposal. Russia’s overnight strikes triggered a fire at a private medical facility in Kyiv, killing one person and wounding three others, authorities said. “Doctors and nurses were forced to evacuate the wounded under fire,” Ukraine’s prime minister, Yulia Svyrydenko, said on X. The attack also killed a man in his 70s in the neighbouring city of Fastiv, the Kyiv regional governor said.

The strikes caused power outages in the area, with backup systems activated to maintain water and heating supplies, the official said, as temperatures dropped to -8C. Russia launched a total of 165 drones and at least nine missiles overnight, the Ukrainian air force said.

European leaders are in Paris on Tuesday seeking a breakthrough on a plan to end the fighting that Kyiv says is “90%” ready. “This week, we will be working with our European and American partners to ensure that Ukraine has the assistance it needs,” Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Monday. To lay the groundwork, security advisers from 15 countries – including the UK, France and Germany as well as representatives from Nato and the European Union – gathered in Kyiv at the weekend.

One person was killed and two were injured from a Ukrainian drone attack in Russia’s Tver region, the regional governor’s office said on Tuesday. Drone debris hit a ninth-floor apartment in Tver and sparked a fire that was later extinguished, while residents of neighbouring flats were evacuated, the office said on Telegram, citing the region’s acting governor, Vitaly Korolev.

Russia launched five missile strikes on Ukraine’s second-biggest city, Kharkiv, on Monday, damaging energy infrastructure, and attacked an enterprise owned by US agricultural producer Bunge in the south-eastern city of Dnipro, Ukrainian officials said. Ukrainian foreign minister Andrii Sybiha said the Dnipro attack – which caused a leak of sunflower oil – underscored that Russian forces were targeting US businesses, adding that Russian president Vladimir Putin had “complete disregard” for US-led efforts to end the war. There was no immediate comment on the strikes from Moscow. Kharkiv mayor Ihor Terekhov said the strikes were “not just an attack on facilities. It’s an attack on heating, on water, on people’s normal lives. They are trying to break us with fear and darkness.” Kharkiv’s regional prosecutors’ office said at least one civilian was injured.

Zelenskyy has named Canada’s former finance minister Chrystia Freeland as an adviser on economic development, a move he says will help strengthen the “internal resilience” of the war-torn nation, report Leyland Cecco and Shaun Walker. Freeland “has extensive experience in attracting investment and implementing economic transformations”, the Ukrainian president said on social media. The move comes amid a major government shake-up in Kyiv as Zelenskyy replaces several key figures.

The spy chief who led Ukraine’s most audacious behind-the-lines operations in its war with Russia has been forced to resign under pressure from Zelenskyy. Vasyl Malyuk, who was awarded the title of Hero of Ukraine last year, reportedly fought to remain head of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) but relented on Monday at a meeting with the president, reports Daniel Boffey. Zelenskyy said Malyuk would be reassigned to overseeing unconventional warfare. “There must be more Ukrainian asymmetric operations against the occupier and the Russian state and more solid results in eliminating the enemy.”

Russia said on Monday it had seized the village of Grabovske in Ukraine’s north-eastern Sumy region, from where Kyiv had last month accused Moscow of forcibly relocating dozens of residents.