Putin refuses a personal meeting with Zelensky about the war in Ukraine, calling his open letter ‘rude’

Because “the payment from a NATO member did not arrive on time”, Ukraine did not have enough missiles for a functioning defense system during the night of Monday 19 to Tuesday 20 January. The result: Russian attacks that night caused significant damage to the Ukrainian energy sector. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told international journalists on Friday: writes the Financial Times.

“Imagine (my position),” the president said. “I know there are ballistic missiles coming at our energy infrastructure, I know Patriot systems have been deployed and I know the electricity will go out because there are no missiles to intercept (Russia’s ballistic missiles).”

A day after the serious attack on January 20, which included destroying energy infrastructure in Kyiv damagedthe missiles still arrived.

Zelensky did not say on Friday which NATO member paid late. At it purchasing program PURLin full Prioritized Ukraine Requirements List, contributes, among others, Germany, Norway, Poland, the Netherlands, Belgium, Canada, Luxembourg, Portugal, Slovenia and Spain. The Financial Times writes that two anonymous “Western sources” involved in PURL say Zelensky’s allegation is false, but did not elaborate.

Russia’s targeting of energy sector is ‘genocide’

Meanwhile, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Kęstutis Budrys has the International Criminal Court on Friday asked to issue arrest warrants for Russian officials responsible for the attacks on energy infrastructure. The “systematic attacks” in the middle of winter are “a deliberate attempt to physically destroy the Ukrainian population.” Budrys says the attacks should be investigated “like a genocide.”

Since Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klychko called on residents to leave the city on January 9, at least 500,000 people have been killed. evacuated. The call followed such heavy nighttime attacks that almost half of Kyiv’s apartment buildings were left without heating. Temperatures in the Ukrainian capital are well below freezing.

Klychko called the energy crisis caused by Russian attacks the toughest test for the residents of Kyiv since the Russian invasion in February 2022. In addition to the lack of electricity and therefore heating, there is also a shortage of drinking water and sanitary facilities. “The temperature is approaching -20 degrees and Putin is using this to break resistance, plunge everyone into depression and create tensions in society,” the mayor told the AFP news agency on January 20.

Two days without attacks

The Kremlin said on Friday it would suspend Russian attacks on Ukrainian infrastructure until February 1 – this Friday and Saturday. That promise follows a request from US President Donald Trump, who stated on Thursday that Russian President Vladimir Putin had agreed to a full week without attacks on Ukrainian infrastructure.

Since the Russian invasion four years ago in February, it has often happened that the country does not attack Ukraine for several days – to focus on targets, to await weapons production or deliveries or because another offensive is being prepared.

On the night of January 30, Russian attacks on the Ukrainian energy infrastructure indeed failed to materialize. But “we now see that the Russian military is focusing on attacks on logistics,” President Zelensky wrote on Friday on Telegram. For example, a ballistic missile was used in the Kharkiv region. Warehouses of an American company were damaged, Zelensky said.

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