Name: Russian strikes on Ukraine kill four and leave people with no power | BBC News
Uploaded: 2026-01-13T17:17:08.000Z
Duration: 6 min 25 s
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In Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says several hundred thousand people in and around Kyiv are without power today after another Russian missile strike.

Parts of the capital have been without heating and electricity in fact for several days now and in sub zero temperatures.

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Four people were reportedly killed overnight in Kharkiv and a thermal power plant in Kyiv was also badly damaged.

The Ukrainian military said almost 300 drones and 18 missiles targeted cities and across the country.

Let's get a key and speak to our correspondent Weary Davies.

At the Security Council last night they were talking about a new pattern of these attacks which are designed, they said, to coincide with the cold weather.

Does it seem as if there, there has been an uptick in recent days?

Not certainly the accusation coming from the authorities here in Ukraine.

Both the mayor of of Kyiv, Vitaly Klitschko and President Zelensky have accused Russia of deliberately target marketing critical infrastructure and taking advantage, exploiting this very, very cold winter.

Even by Ukrainian standards, this has been a cold winter.

Temperatures this week with wind chill taken into account are reaching about minus 19 degrees centigrade, which is bitterly cold.

As you can see, the weather is now closing in behind us again.

And the net impact of that when things like power stations, when electricity grids, when gas centers, not just in Kyiv, but

across city, when these get hit, it leads to but blackouts and power cuts.

So in southern cities like Dnipro, Zaporizhzhia, Krivi Re, even over in Lviv in western Ukraine, but

particularly here in the capital, we've seen these extensive power cuts and that means people who live in high rise buildings and they rely on electricity, they can't use the lifts.

And then because there's no running water pumping through the pipes, pipes can freeze and burst.

So it's a problem which the Ukrainian government has directly accused Russia of exploiting.

Well, an investigation by BBC is tracked down a recruiter operating inside Russia to source foreign fighters for its war in Ukraine.

Russia has brought in an estimated 20,000 foreigners to fight this war, including from the Middle East, Africa and across the global south.

The recruiter known as Polina posts adverts on social media promising Russian citizenship and non combat roles.

But our correspondent Nawal Al Maghafi has spoken to some of those recruits who say they were deceived and instead used as expendable troops on the front line.

These are the men fighting Russia's war Against Ukraine.

But on this battlefield, it doesn't matter where you're from.

For those who survive, this is where they end up.

We're in a prisoner of war facility in Lviv, western Ukraine.

Nowhere is Russia's recruitment of foreign fighters more visible than here.

The BBC doesn't usually interview prisoners of war.

But with their consent and without supervision, we've made an exception.

He was sent to the front line with 20 other Yemenis after just 10 days of military training.

If it wasn't for that, we wouldn't have signed.

If I worked for 10 years, I wouldn't get the same amount as I got in Russia in one year.

I asked him about the innocent people he killed on the other side.

If I had known that, I wouldn't have joined this war.

But it's people like this who persuaded him.

She's just one of a network of Russian recruiters enticing desperate young men to join Russia's ranks.

Guys, I'm grateful to you for signing the contract.

Her posts on social media promise Russian citizenship and $2,500 per month.

Omar, whose name we've changed, is a construction worker from Syria.

He signed up with Polina and has been sending us voice notes and videos from the Russian front line.

They tell us this woman is a con artist and a liar.

She would ensure he would only serve in non combat roles.

If I go in, I won't be able to come out alive.

When I refused, they told me they would either kill me or put me in prison for 15 years.

And when Omar complained, this is what she did.

To all the people who say that I'm throwing people to death.

You all understood well that you were going to war.

You thought you could get a Russian passport and do nothing and lie in a five star hotel?

We've spoken to 12 families whose sons were recruited by Polina.

It's been nearly six months since we last visited the prison Khalil is being held in.

I did dream that I was being exchanged and that I'm going home to my mom.

In two years, thousands of captured soldiers had been exchanged between Russia and Ukraine.

None of them were Russian foreign fighters, leaving men like Khalil trapped.

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Russian strikes on Ukraine kill four and leave people with no power | BBC News

trick

deliberately

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combat