Russia hits Ukraine’s power grid as peace talks loom (Full Transcript)

[00:00:00] Speaker 1: Ukraine's President Zelensky says Ukraine and Russia have been invited to talks next week and that the US is pushing to end the war by June. The development comes as Ukraine says Russia has carried out a huge attack on its critical energy facilities, triggering emergency power outages in most regions. Our correspondent in Kiev, Sarah Rainsford, gave us this update on those attacks.

[00:00:23] Speaker 2: The focus this time appears to have been in the centre and the west of the country. We have reports this morning of major power outages in western Ukraine in particular and across the country. So this is Lviv region, this is Ivano-Frankivsk, this is Rivne in the centre of Ukraine. Again, Russia has been deliberately and in a focused way targeting the energy infrastructure, which is something of a pattern this winter. Of course, it has been a particularly cold winter this year and that has led to these massive outages of power that we've seen and many people left without central heating, without hot water and sometimes without electricity in their homes. So that is a campaign which has continued overnight. We were at a power station here in Kiev just yesterday to witness some of the damage that had been done there in repeated attacks earlier in the month. A few days ago here in Kiev, that particular power station was hit with five ballistic missiles and the damage is enormous. In fact, that power plant, which at the time was only generating heating, it was not even generating electricity because of previous damage, that power plant won't be repaired this winter. The damage is obvious, it is immense, the place has been smashed to smithereens. So Russia's attacks continue and again, yes, it was a major attack overnight, particularly focused on the West.

[00:01:48] Speaker 1: Give us a sense of what the locals are making of that because obviously the Russians are targeting the power because then they're in the freezing conditions. How are they getting through the days without that power?

[00:02:03] Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, I think it's clear that these attacks are supposed to be debilitating, they're supposed to make Ukrainians angry, presumably to turn them against their own authorities and to demand a stop to this war, to demand that Ukraine makes concessions. You might think logically that would be what happened, but it's not what we found here, it's certainly not the mood on the ground. We've been to speak to many people in recent days, in the last couple of weeks, who have no heating, who have no hot water, who are living in really tough conditions at home, and they are getting through. And in fact, I think if anything, the resilience has increased, they are not in any mood for compromise or for surrender, certainly. They are managing how they can. People who have gas in their homes will heat bricks on the gas stoves to give out extra warmth. One lady we met in one city, she was boiling pans of water, putting a lid on it and popping her feet on top of the saucepan to keep her feet warm. People wearing multiple layers of clothing, going to bed in their coats and in their hats. But still, as I say, it does seem that the mood is very much one of continuing to defend Ukraine and certainly not giving in to the compromises that Russia is demanding, particularly in terms of handing over territory to Moscow.

[00:03:15] Speaker 1: Now, President Zelensky has been talking about the talks. What has he been saying? Is there any optimism?

[00:03:24] Speaker 2: Well, I think on the positive side, there are a couple of things. There was another prisoner exchange this week, so more than 150 Ukrainians returned home, Russian prisoners of war back to Russia. So that was a proof that there is some engagement. In terms of the talks too, President Zelensky has said that Russia is engaged in less rhetoric these days and much more focused on the concrete matters of any kind of deal, so particularly, for example, how any ceasefire would be monitored, who would be involved, where lines might be drawn. So instead of giving endless false historical lectures, he said, they are focusing on the practicalities, and that's partly because the make-up of the Russian team negotiating has changed. So a more serious approach, he argues, but again he is saying that Russia is insisting on taking territory for free, that Ukraine will not hand over. One interesting point I think he did make is that there is now some serious discussion about whether there might be at some point a trilateral meeting between Presidents Zelensky, Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin of Russia to discuss what he said were the most complicated parts of any peace deal. So he said they might have to be left to the presidents to discuss, and that that was something that Ukraine was open to. But that is, I think, a long way off at the moment. At the moment there is massive disagreement over territory and no sign of any compromise.

[00:04:42] Speaker 1: Sarah Rainsford reporting from Kyiv.