Russian forces Ukraine’s capital and key energy facilities with a massive airstrike on the eve of talks between Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Donald Trump aimed at nailing down a plan to end Moscow’s war.

Ukraine’s president stopped in Halifax, Nova Scotia, en route to the U.S., to meet with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney. Together, the pair will hold a video call with European leaders, Zelenskyy said earlier on Saturday. He reiterated Ukraine’s need for legally binding security guarantees from allies if hostilities are brought to an end.

More than 500 drones and 40 missiles — including Kinzhal hypersonic weapons — were launched in a barrage that started overnight and continued throughout the day on Saturday, hitting civilian targets and energy facilities. Air raid sirens have sounded in Kyiv for over 16 hours.

“Russian representatives engage in lengthy talks, but in reality, Kinzhals and ‘Shaheds’ speak for them,” Zelenskyy said.

The barrage killed one person in Kyiv and injured at least 32, disrupted power and water supplies, and sparked fires across several districts. About one-third of the city of over 3 million residents was left without heating with temperatures hovering around freezing.

More than 600,000 households in Kyiv and the surrounding region were without electricity around midday Saturday, Prime Minister Yuliia Svyrydenko said on Telegram. “Russians are pursuing a campaign built on instilling exhaustion, cold, and fear,” she added.

Several high-rise residential buildings, as well as cars and other property, were set ablaze, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on Telegram. Authorities imposed emergency power cuts in the capital, overriding rolling blackouts that had already been scheduled, while water supplies were also disrupted.

The Chernihiv region in northern Ukraine also saw power cuts, Ukraine’s energy ministry said. In late afternoon, Ukraine’s air force command said it had identified a missile headed toward Myrhorod in central Ukraine.

Russia attacked gas extraction and heating producing facilities operated by Naftogaz, Ukraine’s state-run energy company, CEO Sergii Koretskyi said on Facebook. “Obviously, these attacks are synchronized with cold,” he said.

Russia’s defense ministry said in a post on Telegram that its strikes “targeted energy infrastructure used by Ukraine’s armed forces as well as defense industry facilities,” and that “all targets were hit.”

As the attack was unfolding, Russian President Vladimir Putin visited a command post of Russia’s forces fighting in Ukraine early morning and was briefed on the situation at the front, the Kremlin announced late Saturday. The Russian leader has developed a pattern of visiting military command posts ahead of key phases of diplomatic talks, a move seen as used to underscore battlefield momentum for the U.S.

This time, Russia’s Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov reported to Putin that his troops are advancing in multiple directions, with several locations taken, including Huliaipole in the Zaporizhzhia region, and Dmitrov in the Donetsk region.

Those claims could not be independently verified, and Ukraine has not yet commented.

Given the pace of the advance, Russia has no interest in Ukrainian forces withdrawing from their current positions, Putin said. “If the authorities in Kyiv do not wish to resolve the matter peacefully, we will achieve all the objectives facing us in the course of the special military operation by military means,” he said.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said in several statements it shot down 194 drones over a six-hour period through 8 p.m. local time on Saturday. One person was reported to have been killed in the Belgorod region. Separately, Moscow’s mayor reported 26 drones in the vicinity of the capital, with Vnukovo airport temporarily suspending flights and Sheremetyevo airport operating with restrictions.

Events are unfolding a day before Zelenskyy is set to meet with Trump in Palm Beach, Florida, in pursuit of a deal to end Russia’s nearly four-year invasion. Ahead of that meeting, Canada’s Carney announced that his country would provide Ukraine with C$2.5 billion ($1.8 billion) in economic assistance to help unlock funding from bodies including the International Monetary Fund.

Zelenskyy said Friday that he plans to refine Kyiv’s agreements with the U.S. as much as possible, with a comprehensive 20-point peace plan then requiring input from Russia and Europe. He plans to discuss sensitive issues with Trump, including the future of the Donbas and the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, as well as a long-term road map for Ukraine’s battered economy.

Sunday’s meeting is set for 3 p.m. local time, according to Trump’s official schedule. The U.S. leader is spending the holidays at his Mar-a-Lago club.

Besides Zelenskyy, the Ukrainian negotiating team will include top envoy Rustem Umerov, economy minister Oleksii Sobelev, chief of the General Staff Andriy Hnatov, presidential office adviser Oleksandr Bevz, and first deputy foreign minister Sergiy Kyslytsya.

Zelenskyy told Axios on Friday that he’s ready to put an eventual framework agreement to a referendum if Russia agrees to a ceasefire of at least 60 days.

On Saturday, Zelenskyy said he was “politically ready” for elections, but that Ukraine needs to prepare in terms of appropriate legislation, and that he expects Russia to attempt to undermine the legitimacy of any vote.

“If the American side raises the issue of a referendum or elections — they definitely can’t take place in such conditions in which we live today, namely the attacks,” he added.

Trump, meanwhile, spoke on Friday with Poland’s President Karol Nawrocki, the Polish leader’s office said in a statement. An aide told Poland’s state news agency PAP that Nawrocki stressed to Trump that Putin was the aggressor in the conflict with Ukraine.

Ahead of Trump’s meeting with Zelenskyy, comments from Moscow late Friday raised doubts about how close a final agreement might be.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov, in an interview with state television, described Kyiv’s latest plans as “radically different” from the key points Moscow has discussed with the U.S. in recent weeks.

Ukraine and its European allies have “redoubled their efforts to torpedo” any accord to end a conflict, Ryabkov said.

A person close to the Kremlin told Bloomberg News earlier in the week that Moscow will seek key changes to the U.S.-Ukraine plan, including more restrictions on Kyiv’s military.

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(With assistance from Thomas Seal.)

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