NATO chief in Kyiv on surprise visit hours after Russian attack

NATO chief Mark Rutte was in Kyiv on Tuesday for a surprise visit just hours after Russia launched its largest drone and missile attack so far this year.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky posted a video of the pair laying flowers at a memorial in central Kyiv to soldiers killed in the Russian invasion.

A Russian overnight attack had damaged part of the Motherland monument in Kyiv, an iconic Soviet-era World War II memorial.

"It is both symbolic and cynical: the aggressor state strikes at a place of remembrance of the struggle against aggression in the 20th century, repeating its crimes in the 21st century," Ukraine's Culture Minister Tetyana Berezhna wrote on social media.

Russia resumed strikes on Ukraine's energy infrastructure early Tuesday, cutting heating to more than one thousand residential buildings in Kyiv, as temperatures near minus 20 Celsius on Tuesday, Ukrainian officials said.

"Kyiv. As a result of the strikes, more than 1,100 homes were left without heating," Restoration Minister Oleksiy Kuleba said on social media, adding that Russia had attacked "homes, heat, and basic living conditions for civilians" across the country.

Zelensky said Russia was prioritizing more attacks over peace talks.

"Taking advantage of the coldest days of winter to terrorize people is more important to Russia than turning to diplomacy," Zelensky wrote on social media, adding Russian forces had attacked with "more than 70 missiles in total, as well as 450 attack drones."