Russia and Ukraine continued trading intense strikes on civilian and energy infrastructure overnight, less than a day after the parties signalled that peace negotiations were moving forward in U.S.-brokered talks.

Russia unleashed a major attack on Ukraine's energy facilities, knocking out electricity for over 500,000 after strikes on energy facilities in the Zhytomyr, Volyn, Mykolaiv, Poltava, Khmelnytskyi and Rivne regions, Ukraine's Energy Ministry said Friday .

Work has begun on emergency restoration where the security situation allows, the ministry added.

DTEK, one of Ukraine's largest private energy companies, said an unspecified thermal power plant had stopped generating electricity after Russian shelling.

Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion in 2022, DTEK's thermal power plants have been attacked more than 230 times, the company said in a post on Telegram early Friday.

Meanwhile, Russia's Ministry of Defense said that air defense forces intercepted and destroyed 443 Ukrainian drones…