Particle.news

Russia’s Mass Strikes Batter Ukraine’s Power Grid as Geneva Talks Set for Next Week

U.S.-mediated negotiations set for Feb. 17–18 in Switzerland will proceed despite ongoing barrages that are killing civilians.

Overview

  • Ukraine’s Air Force reported 219 long-range drones and 24 ballistic missiles launched in the Feb. 11–12 attacks, with strikes concentrated on power generation and substation nodes in Kyiv, Odesa and Dnipro.
  • Widespread utility failures followed, including nearly 2,600 residential buildings without heat in Kyiv, about 300,000 Odesa residents without water and power, and roughly 10,000 Dnipro homes cut off from electricity.
  • Power company DTEK said a key Odesa substation sustained “extraordinarily severe” damage and cautioned that repairs will take a long time before equipment can be restored.
  • In Bohodukhiv in Kharkiv region, a Geran-2 strike leveled a family home, killing 34-year-old Gryhoriy Shykula and his children—twins Ivan and Vladislav, 2, and Miroslava, 1—while the pregnant mother was hospitalized with blast injuries.
  • The Kremlin and Kyiv confirmed a U.S.-mediated round in Geneva on Feb. 17–18, with Vladimir Medinsky leading Russia’s delegation and Rustem Umerov heading Ukraine’s team after two inconclusive Abu Dhabi meetings; Russian authorities separately reported a Volgograd industrial fire from a Ukrainian drone and brief flight suspensions at multiple airports.