Russian strikes black out Ukraine; Kyiv hits Yaroslavl refinery

Russia launched a sweeping multi-wave bombardment of Ukraine's energy infrastructure on Tuesday, knocking out power across large areas with dozens of missiles and hundreds of drones, a week before US-brokered peace talks are due to resume. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Russia fired 289 drones, 17 ballistic missiles, and 59 cruise missiles, hitting power plants from Odesa to Rivne. Ukraine's largest private energy firm DTEK said three of its five thermal plants were knocked offline, causing outages in Kyiv and six other regions. Ukraine retaliated with a drone attack that set fire to a major oil refinery in Yaroslavl, Russia. Zelenskiy noted the strikes coincided with US congressional elections, calling for more air defences. Russia said it targeted electricity facilities supplying military factories. Both sides have agreed to halt energy attacks per a US announcement, though neither confirmed it, ahead of trilateral talks in Abu Dhabi next week.