MOSCOW/KYIV/UNITED NATIONS -- Russia and Ukraine reported overnight strikes against each other amid intensified military actions on Tuesday, with Moscow saying it had carried out a large-scale attack on Ukraine's energy infrastructure, while Kyiv reported a strike on a drone production facility inside Russia.
The Russian Defense Ministry said its forces conducted a massive strike using high-precision ground-based weapons and drones, targeting Ukrainian energy facilities. The ministry described the operation as a response to what it called Ukrainian "terrorist attacks" on Russian civilian targets, adding that "all designated targets had been hit."
Earlier on Tuesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia launched nearly 300 strike drones, 18 ballistic missiles and seven cruise missiles overnight, mainly targeting Ukraine's energy infrastructure.
READ MORE: Missile strike damages infrastructure in Russian border city of Belgorod
Meanwhile, the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces said Ukrainian forces struck the Atlant Aero plant in Russia's Rostov region overnight. The facility is involved in the production and testing of strike and reconnaissance drones, including Molniya-type unmanned aerial vehicles, according to a statement.
The Ukrainian military said the strike was aimed at reducing Russia's ability to produce drones and strike civilian targets in Ukraine. On the other hand, the Russian Defense Ministry said Russian air defense systems had intercepted multiple aerial targets over the past day, including guided bombs, rockets and unmanned aerial vehicles.
'Ukraine gets record air defense supplies in 2025'
Ukrainian Defense Minister Denys Shmyhal said Tuesday that Ukraine received 23 long- and medium-range air defense systems and 11,000 missiles for those systems in 2025, the Interfax-Ukraine news agency reported.
Calling it the largest delivery since the start of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Shmyhal said Ukraine's air defenses had been reinforced with four Patriot systems. He made the remarks in parliament ahead of a vote on his dismissal.
Shmyhal added that substantial efforts were made last year to secure the delivery of Swedish Gripen fighter jets and French Rafale aircraft to Ukraine.
He said that Ukraine received $45 billion in security assistance from international partners in 2025, a 30 percent increase from 2024.
UN, partners launch $2.3b humanitarian appeal for Ukraine
The United Nations and its humanitarian partners on Tuesday launched the 2026 humanitarian needs and response plan for Ukraine, calling for $2.3 billion, a UN spokesperson said Tuesday.
The fund is aimed at supporting more than 4 million people across Ukraine with life-saving assistance, out of the nearly 11 million people across the country who are estimated to require humanitarian assistance this year, Stephane Dujarric, spokesperson for the UN secretary-general, told a daily briefing.
He said UN humanitarians have reported widespread disruptions to electricity and to heating during extremely cold winter conditions, which are creating a crisis within an existing crisis, pushing already vulnerable people to the brink.
READ MORE: Russia strikes Ukrainian targets, using high-precision armaments
The spokesperson added that humanitarian needs remain most severe in front-line areas and along the northern border, where intensified shelling, destruction of civilian infrastructure and persistent disruptions to essential services is ongoing.
Meanwhile, authorities reported that attacks across Ukraine in the past day resulted in civilian casualties, and disruptions to basic services, all of this continuing in freezing temperatures, said Dujarric, adding that in Odesa, overnight attacks injured several civilians and damaged residential buildings as well as civilian facilities, including offices and premises of several UN organizations.
Across the country, rolling power outages are continuing, and some areas, including parts of the capital city of Kyiv, remained without heating as temperatures dropped to 15 degrees Celsius, he said.
