00:00A day of horror in Ukraine, as Russia pummels the country with its biggest strikes this year to date.
00:07The country's energy infrastructure may have been the target, but civilians are not spared.
00:13In the city of Kharkiv, firefighters carried the injured away as they battle a blaze in a tower block.
00:20In Zaporizhia, next to a burned-out car, two teenagers caught in a strike lie dead on the road.
00:27And in the capital, Kyiv, shards of glass from broken windows cover the ground.
00:32Survivors recount close calls.
00:35My ears were blocked by the blast. I couldn't hear anything.
00:39A child was in the corridor and I ran into this room. You can see what happened here.
00:44Thank God the grandmother was lying on the other side of the bed and was not injured.
00:49Just as Ukraine and Russia prepared to sit down with U.S. mediators, there's little sign of trust.
00:54Russia had promised not to hit Ukrainian energy targets like this plant for a week, giving Ukrainians a reprieve amid the fiercest winter since the war started.
01:04But Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says Russia has broken that promise.
01:09Either Russia now believes a week has only about four days instead of seven, or they are betting only on war, and simply waited for the coldest days of this winter, when temperatures in large parts of Ukraine dropped below minus 20 degrees Celsius.
01:25And Ukraine's allies are skeptical too.
01:28Direct talks are now underway. And this is important progress. But Russia attacks, like those last night, do not signal seriousness about peace.
01:42I don't see really any signs from Russia to want peace. They are going for their maximalist demands, and that's why our response is clear.
01:55We need to put more pressure on Russia so that they would go from pretending to negotiate to actually negotiate.
02:02Even in the United States, President Donald Trump's hopes for a peace deal are being tested.
02:07I spoke with the president about it this morning, and his reaction was unfortunately unsurprised.
02:13In Russia, though, the focus seems to be mainly on Russia's economy, which President Vladimir Putin said grew one percent last year.
02:21So far, two days of peace talks in Abu Dhabi are still on this week.
02:26But the latest strikes are raising doubts about how much they can achieve.
02:30Devin Tsai and John Van Trieste for Taiwan Plus.
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