Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has accused Russian leader Vladimir Putin of being intent on using wintry weather as a weapon rather than working towards a diplomatic resolution of nearly four years of conflict.
Russian drone strikes knocked out power to the Zaporizhzhia and Dnipropetrovsk regions of Ukraine, leaving more than 600,000 households without electricity in a cold snap, with temperatures in some parts of the country below freezing.
President Zelensky said the strikes were aimed at “breaking” his country as officials raced to restore power.
Meanwhile, Donald Trump has given his approval for Republicans to push ahead with a bill in Congress that would punish countries for buying Russian oil.
Senator Lindsey Graham said: “This bill will allow President Trump to punish those countries who buy cheap Russian oil fueling Putin’s war machine.”
Earlier, Mr Zelensky said he believed Russia’s war could be brought to an end in the first half of this year, insisting that negotiations reached a new milestone with talks this week in Paris.
Three killed in Kyiv as Russia attacks Ukraine with drones and missiles
At least three people were killed after Russia attacked Ukraine with drones and missiles overnight into Friday, Ukrainian officials said.
Russia also struck critical infrastructure in the western city of Lviv using an unidentified ballistic missile, said mayor Andriy Sadoviy.
The Western Command of Ukraine’s Air Force later said the missile traveled at a speed of 13,000km (more than 8,000 miles) per hour, and that the specific type of rocket was being investigated.
The attack took place just hours after Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky alerted the nation about Russia’s intentions for a large-scale offensive.
He said that Russia aimed to take advantage of the frigid weather in the capital, making roads and streets perilously icy.
Several districts in Kyiv were hit in the attack, said Kyiv City Military Administration head Tymur Tkachenko. In the Desnyanskyi district a drone crashed onto the roof of a multi-story building.
At another address in the same district the first two floors of a residential building were damaged as a result of the attack.
In Dnipro district, parts of a drone damaged a multi-story building and a fire broke out.
Running water and electricity were disrupted in parts of the capital as a result of the attack, Kyiv’s mayor Vitali Klitschko said.
Zelensky condemns Russian strikes on Ukraine’s electricity
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky condemned Russia’s latest strikes on electricity, heating and water infrastructure in Ukraine, which left hundreds of thousands in southeastern Ukraine without power and heat.
“There is absolutely no military rationale in such strikes on the energy sector and infrastructure that leave people without electricity and heating in wintertime,” he wrote in a post on X.
Mr Zelensky added that the ongoing diplomatic process to end the war should not affect the supply of air defence systems and equipment to Ukraine.
Zelensky and US issue warnings for major Russian strike
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky and the US embassy in Kyiv have both said a significant Russian attack could be imminent.
It was a rare instance of simultaneous warnings from both Kyiv and the US government.
Zelensky, speaking in his nightly video address, said: “There is information there could be a new, massive Russian strike this evening” and warned residents to take shelter when air raid sirens are sounded.
The US embassy said it had also received information “concerning a potentially significant air attack that may occur at any time over the next several days”.
North Korea’s Kim pledges permanent support for Russia’s Putin in a letter
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un told Russian president Vladimir Putin in a letter that he will support Putin’s policies unconditionally and permanently, North Korean state media KCNA said in a report today.
“I will unconditionally respect and unconditionally support all your policies and decisions and I have a willingness to be always with you for the sake of you and your Russia,” Kim said in a letter to Putin, KCNA reported.
“This choice will be constant and permanent,” he said. Kim’s letter was a reply to a letter Putin sent earlier, KCNA said.
Kremlin rejects European troops in Ukraine, calling it dangerous
Moscow has repeated its rejection of any troops from European nations in Ukraine after a ceasefire, warning that it would not accept any Nato members sending peacekeeping troops to Ukraine.
“All such units and facilities will be considered legitimate military targets for the Russian Armed Forces,” Russia’s foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said yesterday.
Calling the plan “dangerous” and “destructive”, the Kremlin spokesperson accused Kyiv’s allies of forming an “axis of war”.
Earlier this week, European leaders and US envoys announced that post-war guarantees for Ukraine would include a US-led monitoring mechanism and a European multinational force to be deployed once the fighting stops.
Merz says Europe must raise price of war in Ukraine
German chancellor Friedrich Merz has said that Europe must raise the price of the war in Ukraine to force Russia into accepting a ceasefire.
“A ceasefire is still not on the agenda, quite obviously because Russia does not want it,” Mr Merz said on Thursday after talks at the party conference of his conservatives’ Bavarian sister party, the CSU.
“We will therefore have to continue to raise the price of this war – Russia must realise that there is no point in continuing it,” he said.
Russian attack hits infrastructure target in western Lviv region
A Russian attack struck an infrastructure target in western Ukraine’s Lviv region, officials said early on Friday, although providing no details on the weapon used.
Lviv mayor Andriy Sadovyi and regional governor Maksym Kozytskyi, writing on Telegram, said little about the strike and made no comment on suggestions that a Russian hypersonic Oreshnik missile might have been fired.
Sadovyi said it was for Ukraine’s military to determine if the weapon deployed by Russian forces was an Oreshnik missile.
Kozytskyi said experts were examining the area where the strike occurred.
Ukrainian media quoted the West command of the Ukrainian Air Force as saying a ballistic missile had been used and had been travelling at a speed of nearly 13,000 km per hour (8,000 mph).
The report said the type of missile still needed to be determined.
Putin envoy spotted in Paris – reports
Reports have emerged in France that Vladimir Putin’s envoy who has been engaged in peace negotiations, Kirill Dmitriev, was spotted in Paris on Wednesday.
Sources told Le Monde that Dmitriev was spotted on Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré.
French president Emmanuel Macron’s office has denied suggestions that Dmitriev visited the Élysée Palace, one day after a meeting of Coalition of the Willing leaders saw France and the UK commit to putting boots on the ground in Ukraine in the event of a peace deal.
The meeting was attended by Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, who have both met Dmitriev several times as they look to push Moscow towards accepting a peace deal.
Le Monde reported that Dmitriev was received at the US embassy in Paris, which is near the Élysée Palace.
Zelensky says security guarantees deal ‘ready’ to be finalised with Trump
We can bring you an update from Volodymyr Zelensky, who has spoken about the US-Ukrainian negotiations on security guarantees with the Trump administration.
The Ukrainian president said a bilateral security guarantees document between Kyiv and Washington was “essentially ready” to be finalised between himself and Donald Trump.
Mr Zelensky said Wednesday’s meetings of both countries’ representatives in Paris discussed “complex issues” from the framework under discussion to end the nearly four-year war.
“We understand that the American side will engage with Russia, and we expect feedback on whether the aggressor is genuinely willing to end the war,” he added in a post on X.
Zelensky condemns Russian strikes on Ukraine’s electricity
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky condemned Russia’s latest strikes on electricity, heating and water infrastructure in Ukraine, which left hundreds of thousands in southeastern Ukraine without power and heat.
“There is absolutely no military rationale in such strikes on the energy sector and infrastructure that leave people without electricity and heating in wintertime,” he wrote in a post on X.
Mr Zelensky added that the ongoing diplomatic process to end the war should not affect the supply of air defence systems and equipment to Ukraine.
Source: independent.co.uk