National Security

Russia’s latest concentrated drone‑and‑missile barrages — which Kyiv and Western officials say included use of Russia’s new Oreshnik hypersonic/ballistic weapon — struck power and heating infrastructure across multiple regions, leaving roughly half of Kyiv’s apartment buildings without heat, cutting water and electricity amid subzero temperatures, killing and wounding civilians, shutting schools and driving residents to warming centers and generator‑powered “points of invincibility.” The attacks took place as U.S., Ukrainian and Russian envoys pressed a near‑final U.S. 20‑point peace framework (with U.S. envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff and Russian interlocutors such as Kirill Dmitriev involved), with Kyiv and Washington saying most elements are agreed but territorial arrangements for Donbas, the fate of Zaporizhzhia and enforceable security guarantees remain the key unresolved sticking points; Moscow has framed some strikes as retaliation for an alleged Ukrainian drone attack that Kyiv and U.S. officials deny.