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Volodymyr Zelenskyy has accused Russia of intensifying strikes across the country to put pressure on Kyiv at upcoming talks after an overnight barrage triggered power cuts as temperatures drop. “By intensifying its attacks on Ukraine and our infrastructure at this very moment, Russia is trying to additionally lay the groundwork for putting pressure on Ukraine’s position and that of its partners,” the Ukrainian president said. “Russia perceives diplomacy in its own peculiar way – as a form of aggression.”
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Ukraine’s energy ministry said “a massive attack on a number of energy facilities” on Saturday had plunged five regions into darkness and significantly hampered electricity transmission in Kyiv and surrounding regions. Russia had throughout the night launched 172 drones and 36 ballistic missiles, Zelenskyy said, among which were KN-23 missiles manufactured and supplied by North Korea.
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The strikes came before a US-brokered trilateral meeting in Abu Dhabi scheduled for next week aimed at reviving stalled diplomatic efforts towards peace. Ukrainian officials are expected to sit down with Russian negotiators and US envoys on Tuesday and Wednesday for the first such talks in months. The diplomatic track has been stalled since February when Washington shifted attention to its war with Iran.
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Zelenskyy also urged the US to increase its flagging aid to Ukraine. “Unfortunately, there is still a significant shortage of interceptors for Patriot systems, and the United States is in the best position to help address it,” he said.
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Italy’s foreign minister, Antonio Tajani, on Saturday said he had been targeted by pro-Russian hackers over his backing for Ukraine. Tajani said in a post on X that “backing in a transparent way the freedom and independence of a sovereign state” had made him a target. Tajani said his personal data had been published on the dark web and that the hackers were seeking further information about him and his family and were willing to pay for it.
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The Italian prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, who has been one of the strongest backers of Ukraine among western leaders, expressed her support for Tajani and said the sale of confidential information relating to public officials was “a matter of serious concern”. Moscow has not commented on the incident.
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France’s far-left presidential contender Jean-Luc Mélenchon said on Saturday that settling the Ukraine conflict could not be done by granting territorial concessions without consulting the people concerned. Melenchon, who polls suggest could reach the second round of next year’s presidential election, set out his France Unbowed party’s foreign policy positions at a rally just outside Paris.
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Mélenchon has been criticised in the past for questioning the legitimacy of Zelenskyy. But in a campaign speech to thousands of supporters, he said an administration run by his party would take an active role in settling the war in Ukraine. Europe would have to play an active role in peace talks, he said. “We cannot accept that one could consider a peace with territorial concessions in Ukraine without asking the populations concerned if they agree or not to be on one side or other of the border,” he said. “It is for the people themselves to decide what they want,” he added.
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A Ukrainian attack killed one person in Russia’s Belgorod region when a drone hit a private home in the town of Grayvoron, local officials said on Saturday. Russia’s defence ministry said its forces shot down 411 Ukrainian drones overnight over 10 Russian regions, including Belgorod. Drones were also destroyed over the annexed Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea and the Black and Azov seas, it said. Russian media outlets later reported that the Saratov Oil Refinery had been hit and shared images of plumes of smoke over the city.
