Zelensky accuses Russia of hitting power plant after Trump asserts energy ceasefire – follow live

Paul Adams
Diplomatic correspondent, in Kyiv

Intensifying Russian strikes in kyiv, combined with the city’s harsh winters, are forcing some residents to flee the city.

“Last year the winter was very difficult in kyiv,” said resident Mariia Shostak. The mother of two told the BBC in recent days that she was packing her bags and taking her children abroad to Egypt.

With prolonged periods of subzero temperatures and frequent power outages caused by Russian attacks on the country’s power grid, last winter was one of the harshest yet.

“There were unbearable days and weeks. I started to think I wouldn’t live through another winter like this,” she says.

For other kyiv residents, the solution lies closer to home: in the vast open spaces of the Ukrainian countryside.

Olena Konoplia tells us she spent weeks looking for a suitable place before settling on a chalet in a rural community two hours from the capital.

“I decided that the best option would be a small village without factories, warehouses and railway stations,” says Olena.

“Anything that could be a Russian target.”