Kyiv: Russia launched a massive overnight drone and missile assault on Ukraine, killing at least three civilians, including a four-year-old child, and knocking out power across large parts of the country just two days before Christmas, Ukrainian officials said on Tuesday.

According to authorities, Russia fired more than 650 drones and three dozen missiles in an attack that began during the night and continued into daylight hours, striking homes and critical energy infrastructure in 13 regions amid freezing temperatures.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the barrage underscored Russian President Vladimir Putin’s determination to continue the war, even as international efforts to broker peace continue.

“The attack is an extremely clear signal of Russian priorities,” Zelenskyy said in a post on Telegram. “A strike before Christmas, when people want to be with their families, at home, in safety. A strike, in fact, in the midst of negotiations that are being conducted to end this war. Putin cannot accept the fact that we must stop killing.”

Zelenskyy noted that the assault came a day after he described recent progress in peace talks as “quite solid,” adding that Ukrainian and European officials remain sceptical about Moscow’s sincerity in engaging with U.S.-led diplomatic efforts.

The Ukrainian Air Force said Russia launched 635 drones of various types and 38 missiles, of which air defence systems intercepted 587 drones and 34 missiles.

Emergency services reported that a four-year-old child was killed in the northwestern Zhytomyr region, while a woman died after a drone strike in the Kyiv region. Another civilian death was recorded in the western Khmelnytskyi region, Zelenskyy said.

The attack marked the ninth large-scale Russian strike on Ukraine’s energy system this year, acting Energy Minister Artem Nekrasov said. Multiple western regions were left without electricity, while emergency power outages were imposed nationwide.

Restoration work will begin “as soon as the security situation permits,” Nekraso said.

Ukraine’s largest private energy company, DTEK, said the assault targeted its thermal power plants in what it described as the seventh major strike on its facilities since October. The company said its plants have been hit more than 220 times since Russia’s full-scale invasion began in February 2022, killing four workers and wounding 59 others.

Regional officials in Rivne, Ternopil, Lviv and the northern Sumy region reported damage to energy infrastructure or power disruptions.

In the southern Odesa region, Russian strikes hit energy, port, transport, industrial and residential infrastructure, regional governor Oleh Kiper said. A merchant ship and more than 120 homes were damaged in the attack, he added.

Meanwhile, U.S. President Donald Trump has been pressing for a peace agreement for months, though negotiations remain stalled by sharply differing demands from Moscow and Kyiv. U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff said on Sunday that he held “productive and constructive” talks with Ukrainian and European representatives, while Trump said on Monday, “The talks are going along.”