Here are the latest updates as of Wednesday, February 4:
Fighting
A Russian airstrike on the southeastern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia killed at least two teenagers and injured nine other people, the region’s governor, Ivan Fedorov, said in a post on the Telegram messaging app.
A 24-hour air raid alert was issued for the Zaporizhzhia region following the strike, which damaged four high-rise apartment buildings.
Ukrainian shelling of the Moscow-occupied southern Ukrainian town of Nova Kakhovka in the Kherson region killed three people, Kremlin-installed officials said.
Russia launched its “most massive” nighttime attack of the year on Ukraine’s battered energy facilities, leaving hundreds of thousands without heating in freezing winter temperatures, just months before talks to end the nearly four-year war, Kyiv officials said.
The latest Russian operation targeting Ukraine’s energy sector was the largest since the beginning of 2026, Ukraine’s largest private energy company, DTEK, said on Telegram.
A power plant in Ukraine’s second-largest city, Kharkiv, was also severely damaged in the Russian strikes, the city’s mayor, Ihor Terekhov, said. The attack on Kharkiv also injured at least five people, according to officials.
Russia deployed 450 attack drones and more than 60 missiles in the strike, with Moscow deliberately waiting until temperatures dropped to launch the attack, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha said.
A power plant in the eastern Darnytskyi district of Kyiv was severely damaged in the Russian strike, prompting officials to redirect resources to restoring heating for thousands of residents in the city, Ukraine’s Energy Minister German Galushchenko said on Telegram.
The Russian attack has left at least 1,142 high-rise apartment buildings in the Ukrainian capital without heating, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Oleksiy Kuleba said.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Russia of “deliberately targeting energy infrastructure” and said the attack used a “record number of ballistic missiles.”
Russia used a recent short-lived ceasefire brokered by the US to stockpile weapons that were used in the recent strikes, Zelenskyy also said. The latest Russian attack came a day before the next round of trilateral talks scheduled for Wednesday in Abu Dhabi.
Kyiv’s giant Motherland Monument was partially damaged in the latest Russian attack. The Soviet-era World War II monument features a female figure holding a sword and shield. Ukraine’s Culture Minister Tatyana Berezhna said the damage caused by the attack was “both symbolic and ironic.”
*(Image: The Ukrainian flag flies at half-mast near the Motherland Monument in Kyiv in June 2025.)*
Following Tuesday’s attack, US President Donald Trump defended Russian President Vladimir Putin, saying he “kept his word” and adhered to a previously agreed-upon short-term deal that suspended strikes on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure until Sunday.
Trump’s spokesperson, Karoline Leavitt, earlier said the US president was not surprised by the attack.
Russia’s overnight attack does not mean Moscow is serious about achieving peace, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said during a visit to Kyiv on Tuesday.
(Image: Ukraine’s Energy Minister German Galushchenko, center, shows NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, left, a power plant damaged by a Russian airstrike at an undisclosed location in the capital, Kyiv, on Tuesday.)
Military Aid
Sweden and Denmark will jointly purchase and deliver air defense systems worth 2.6 billion Swedish kronor ($290 million) to Ukraine to help it defend against Russian attacks, the countries’ defense ministers, Pål Jonson and Troels Lund Poulsen, announced.
Politics & Diplomacy
Ukraine has agreed with Western partners that repeated Russian violations of a future ceasefire would trigger a coordinated military response from Europe and the US, the Financial Times reported, citing sources familiar with the matter.
French President Emmanuel Macron said he is preparing to resume dialogue with Vladimir Putin nearly four years after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, but stressed that Moscow has shown no “real will” to negotiate a ceasefire.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer spoke by phone with Trump, discussing the situation in Ukraine, including Russia’s overnight attack on the country, the UK government said.
Reaching a peace deal to end Russia’s war will require difficult choices, NATO Prime Minister Rutte said in an address to Ukraine’s parliament during his visit to Kyiv.
Economy
The Kremlin said it has not received any statements from India about halting purchases of sanctioned Russian oil, after Trump announced that New Delhi had agreed to stop such purchases as part of a trade deal with Washington.
Russia is carefully analyzing Trump’s statements about a trade deal with India, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. He added that Moscow intends to “further develop bilateral relations with Delhi” despite the recent statements.
The Russian economy grew by 1% in 2025, a sharp slowdown compared to 2024 figures, as the country staggers under the weight of the war in Ukraine and international sanctions, Putin said. Putin acknowledged during a government meeting that the growth rate was lower than in the previous two years.
Sports
Russia welcomes statements by FIFA President Gianni Infantino, who said he hopes to lift the four-year suspension of Russian teams from international soccer, as Russia has “achieved nothing,” Peskov said. Peskov called Infantino’s comments “very good.”
Infantino’s comments are “irresponsible” and “childish,” Ukraine’s Sports Minister Matviy Bidnyi said, noting that Russia’s invasion has killed more than 650 Ukrainian athletes and coaches.
The IOC’s decision to allow Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete as neutrals, even if they are linked to occupied territories or have publicly supported Moscow’s war in Ukraine, undermines the principle of neutrality, Ukrainian athlete Vladyslav Heraskevych said. He said he intends to use the Winter Olympics to draw attention to the war in Ukraine.