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Russia launched a new barrage of drones and missiles at the Ukrainian capital Kyiv Tuesday, officials said, killing seven people, wounding 21, and disrupting electricity and heating systems as Ukraine raced to finalise a US-backed peace deal.President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russian forces launched more than 460 drones and 22 missiles, their second major strike on Kyiv this month. The air force said it had downed most of the drones and around half of the missiles."The primary targets were the energy sector and everything that keeps normal life going," Zelenskiy said in a post on the Telegram app. As Russia hit Kyiv in several waves of attacks, diplomatic talks on ending the war gained some momentum.Ukrainian, European, and US officials have held several rounds of talks in recent days, and Ukraine Tuesday signalled support for the framework for a peace deal while stressing that sensitive issues needed to be fixed."What matters most now is that all partners move toward diplomacy together, through joint efforts. Pressure on Russia must deliver results," Zelensky said, urging uninterrupted weapons and air defence supplies to Kyiv.Zelensky said that four Russian drones had flown over Ukraine's neighbours Moldova and Nato-member Romania. Romania said it had scrambled fighter jets to track drones which breached its territory near the border with Ukraine.Romania shares a 650-km land border with Ukraine and has had drones breach its airspace and fragments fall onto its territory repeatedly since Russia began attacking Kyiv's ports across the Danube.Ukraine's Energy Ministry said Russian strikes had disrupted electricity supplies to more than 102,000 people in five Ukrainian regions.Tymur Tkachenko, the head of the military administration for the capital, said damage was recorded at 13 sites across Kyiv. Residential and commercial buildings and infrastructure were damaged.Kyiv city officials also said heating supplies across several districts in the capital were restricted. The weather is unseasonably warm with temperatures hovering at about 8 degrees Celsius."The Russians are deliberately targeting civilian infrastructure and housing. Cynical terror," Tkachenko said on Telegram.Moscow denies intentionally targeting civilians despite having killed thousands of them since launching its invasion in 2022. It says civilian infrastructure such as energy supplies are legitimate targets to hurt Ukraine's ability to fight.Ukrainian officials also said that port and energy infrastructure were damaged in the Black Sea port of Odesa, where six people were injured.

Qatar participated in the 31st preparatory meeting of the Electricity and Water Co-operation Committee of the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) countries, held in Kuwait. HE President of Qatar General Electricity and Water Corp (Kahramaa) Eng. Abdulla bin Ali Al Theyab led Qatar's delegation at the meeting. The meeting discussed ways to enhance Gulf integration in the electricity and water sectors, progress on electricity and water interconnection projects, and support for energy efficiency and demand management programs. Governance frameworks and monitoring mechanisms for joint projects were also addressed. HE Eng. Al Theyab affirmed Qatar's commitment to continuing to work with its brothers to develop an integrated Gulf infrastructure that ensures the security and sustainability of supplies and supports the goals of the transition to clean energy.

QatarEnergy doubled country's solar capacity to 1,675MW of renewable electricity since June 2022, the energy major said Tuesday.QatarEnergy is currently building the Dukhan solar power plant, which will double Qatar's solar power generation capacity to more than 4,000MW of renewable energy.The Dukhan plant, one of the largest in the world, will be developed in two phases, reaching a total electricity generation capacity of 2,000 megawatts (MW) by mid-2029.Once completed, it will double Qatar’s solar power production capacity, contributing significantly to the country’s renewable energy goals.The 800-megawatt (MW) Al-Kharsaah solar power plant, Qatar’s first such facility, began supplying electricity to Qatar’s national grid in June 2022.Since then, QatarEnergy has built and operated the Ras Laffan and Mesaieed solar power plants with a combined capacity of 875MW, doubling Qatar's production capacity to 1,675MW of renewable electricity.QatarEnergy established QatarEnergy Renewable Solutions in 2017 with the purpose of financing, building, operating, and maintaining solar power facilities, and selling electricity generated from solar power within the State of Qatar.Recently, QatarEnergy signed an agreement with Samsung C&T's Engineering & Construction Group (Samsung C&T) for the construction of a world-scale solar power plant in Dukhan.When completed, the Dukhan solar power plant, along with Al-Kharsaah, Mesaieed, Ras Laffan solar power plants will help reduce carbon dioxide emissions by about 4.7mn tonnes annually, while contributing up to 30% of Qatar’s total peak electricity demand.According to QatarEnergy, the Dukhan solar power plant will begin the first phase of production by adding 1,000MW of power to the Kahramaa grid towards the end of 2028.The new plant will utilise a solar tracker system and will enhance efficiency by installing inverters capable of operating flawlessly in a high-temperature environment.