Russia Fires Heavy Salvo On Ukraine, Ruling Out Peace Talks

(Bloomberg) -- Russia rained scores of missiles on Ukrainian cities in one of its heaviest barrages of the war, pressing further with a campaign to destroy civilian targets as Moscow spurned the prospects of talks to end the invasion.

In the 10th large-scale attack since September, President Vladimir Putin's forces fired 69 cruise missiles, according to Valeriy Zaluzhnyi, Ukraine's army commander-in-chief. Ukraine shot down 54, as well as 11 Iranian-made drones, officials said.

Kyiv's forces foiled Russia's attempt to leave Ukrainians without electricity ahead of New Year celebrations, even as some energy infrastructure was hit, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said on Telegram.

“The Ukrainian air defense forces demonstrated an incredible level of skill and efficiency,” he wrote.

The assault coincided with an interview with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who said the Kremlin won't discuss Ukraine's demands that it withdraw from occupied lands and pay reparations.

After suffering setbacks on the battlefield for months, Russia is increasingly targeting energy and other civilian sites in a so-far unsuccessful bid to crush Ukrainians' will to fight off Putin's forces.

In a separate incident, neighboring Belarus reported that it shot down a S-300 anti-air missile over its territory that was launched from Ukraine on Thursday morning.

Russia's salvos on Thursday targeted power infrastructure in cities across Ukraine, including the capital, Kyiv, as well as Kharkiv and Sumy in the north. Fired from strategic bombers and Russian ships in the Black Sea, the missiles knocked out power to 90% of Lviv, a city near Ukraine's western border with Poland, and caused massive blackouts in Odesa in the south, according to reports from local officials and the military.

Ukraine's air defense forces shot down at least 21 rockets over Odesa and all 16 that were targeting Kyiv, a spokesman said. Five more were shot down over the southern Mykolayiv region. That added to the 420 Russian missiles and 430 drones downed by Kyiv's troops since Moscow began the mass barrages in September.

Russian authorities haven't commented on the attack. With the war now in its 11th month, Putin admitted last week that his forces face an “extremely difficult” situation in the four territories annexed by Russia since he ordered the Feb. 24 invasion.

While the United Nations has condemned Russia's “attempted illegal annexation” of the areas after Putin signed orders in September to absorb them into his country, Lavrov said this week that Kyiv should cede sovereignty over the areas.

Zelenskiy has vowed to retake all Ukrainian territory occupied by Russia, and Kyiv's forces are steadily pushing Russian troops back with the aid of billions of dollars of US and European weapons.

Even so, there are indications the war may extend well into next year, after Russia recently mobilized some 300,000 reservists.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said in an interview with the Associated Press Monday that his country wants to hold a peace summit in February, but he doesn't anticipate Russia taking part.

Kyiv is ready to hold direct talks with Moscow only after Russia faces a war-crimes tribunal, he said. Lavrov said in his interview that Russia won't submit to any tribunal.

--With assistance from .

(Updates with comment from Ukrainian premier in third paragraph, rocket falling in Belarus in seventh.)

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