US aims for a June resolution as strikes cripple Ukraine’s power network

Washington has proposed hosting negotiating teams from Kyiv and Moscow in the United States, and Ukraine has accepted the invitation as a possible path toward leader-level discussions. Ukrainian officials say U.S. mediators are pressing for a resolution by June, a tight timeline that Kyiv notes will require extensive preparatory work and likely reflect U.S. domestic political dynamics. Diplomacy is proceeding alongside renewed kinetic pressure: a major assault combining hundreds of unmanned aerial systems and roughly 40 missiles was reported, with operators and local governors describing hits on substations, switchyards and at least two thermal power plants that feed regional grids. The strikes affected multiple population centres — Kyiv, Dnipro and Odesa among them — and followed a brief period of reduced attacks that had given crews a narrow, roughly five-day window to repair assets. The damage triggered rolling outage schedules, left hospitals and metro services running on backup generation, and prompted Kyiv to request emergency electricity imports from Poland. Energy firm DTEK said its facilities have been repeatedly targeted, calling the latest wave among the most damaging this winter and noting a long series of attacks on thermal assets since the wider war began. Logistics have been hampered by strike damage to transport links and frozen conditions — temperatures in Kyiv plunged toward minus‑20 Celsius — delaying fuel and spare-part deliveries and lengthening restoration times. International partners have condemned the strikes and expedited offers of transformers, mobile generation and other materiel, but specialists warn such aid cannot instantly replace scarce, specialised equipment or substitute for secure repair windows. U.S. officials also reported that a week‑long cessation of strikes was discussed, but Moscow has not publicly confirmed any such arrangement, underscoring doubts about monitoring and enforcement. Kyiv separately reported strikes inside Russia against a factory linked to missile fuel components, while Russian authorities gave no public account of the incidents. The co‑existence of urgent, U.S.‑driven diplomacy and a campaign targeting civilian energy infrastructure complicates humanitarian relief, verification arrangements and plans for reconstruction, and will test whether compressed external timelines can overcome entrenched battlefield objectives.