KYIV — Russia attacked Kyiv and other parts of Ukraine with hundreds of missiles and drones on Saturday, ahead of what President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said would be a crucial meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump to work out a plan to end nearly four years of war.

Zelenskiy cast the vast overnight attack, which he said involved about 500 drones and 40 missiles and which knocked out power and heat in parts of the capital, as Russia’s response to the ongoing peace efforts brokered by Washington.

The Ukrainian leader has said Sunday’s talks in Florida would focus on security guarantees and territorial control once fighting ends in Europe’s deadliest conflict since World War Two, started by Russia’s 2022 invasion of its smaller neighbour.

The attack continued throughout the morning, and a nearly 10-hour air raid alert for the capital only ended at 11:20 a.m. (0920 GMT). Authorities said two people were killed in Kyiv and the surrounding region, while at least 46 people were wounded, including two children.

“Today, Russia demonstrated how it responds to peaceful negotiations between Ukraine and the United States to end Russia’s war against Ukraine,” Zelenskiy told reporters.

Russia made no immediate comment on the attacks.

Thousands of Homes Without Heat

Explosions echoed across Kyiv from the early hours on Saturday as Ukraine’s air defence units went into action. The air force said Russian drones were targeting the capital and regions in the northeast and south.

State grid operator Ukrenergo said energy facilities across Ukraine were struck by Russia, and emergency power cuts had been implemented across the capital.

Ukraine’s foreign minister said a third of Kyiv was left without heat by the strikes as temperatures hovered around 0 degrees Celsius (32 degrees Fahrenheit) on Saturday morning.

Ukraine’s Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko said about 600,000 households in Kyiv and the surrounding region had lost power.

The strikes also prompted the temporary closure of Rzeszow and Lublin airports in southeastern Poland, to the west of Ukraine, although they were later reopened.

Territorial Control Is Diplomatic Stumbling Block

Zelenskiy told reporters via audio message that he was travelling by plane to meet Trump in Florida, and that he would first stop in Canada to meet Prime Minister Mark Carney, and hold a call with European leaders.

Territory and the future of the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant remain the main diplomatic stumbling blocks, though Zelenskiy told journalists in Kyiv on Friday that a 20-point draft document – the cornerstone of a U.S. push to clinch a peace deal – is 90% complete.

Zelenskiy said the shape of U.S. security guarantees was crucial, and these would depend on Trump, and “what he is ready to give, when he is ready to give it, and for how long.”

Zelenskiy told Axios earlier this week that the U.S. had offered a 15-year deal on security guarantees, subject to renewal, but Kyiv wanted a longer agreement with legally binding provisions to guard against further Russian aggression.

Trump said the United States was the driving force behind the process.

“He doesn’t have anything until I approve it,” Trump told Politico. “So we’ll see what he’s got.”

Zelenskiy told reporters that Ukraine and the U.S. had a “common vision” for co-operation on Ukraine’s post-war recovery, which involved the creation of several investment funds.

Trump said he believed Sunday’s meeting would go well. He also said he expected to speak with Putin “soon, as much as I want.”

Fate of Donetsk Is Key

Moscow is demanding that Ukraine withdraw from a large, densely urbanised chunk of the eastern region of Donetsk that Russian troops have failed to occupy in nearly four years of war. Kyiv wants the fighting halted at the current lines.

Under a U.S. compromise, a free economic zone would be set up if Ukrainian troops pull back from parts of the Donetsk region, though details have yet to be worked out.

Axios quoted Zelenskiy as saying that if he is not able to push the U.S. to back Ukraine’s position on the land issue, he was willing to put the 20-point plan to a referendum – as long as Russia agrees to a 60-day ceasefire allowing Ukraine to prepare for and hold the vote.

On Saturday, Zelenskiy said it was not possible to have such a referendum while Russia was bombarding Ukrainian cities.

He also suggested that he would be ready for “dialogue” with the people of Ukraine if they disagreed with points of the plan.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said Kyiv’s version of the 20-point plan differed from what Russia had been discussing with the U.S., according to the Interfax-Russia news agency.

But he expressed optimism that matters had reached a “turning point” in the search for a settlement.

(Reporting by Max Hunder in London, Ron Popeski in Winnipeg and the Kyiv newsroom, additional reporting by Alan Charlish and Lili Bayer; Editing by William Mallard, Joe Bavier, Alexandra Hudson)