Strike in Kyiv cuts power to half of the city amid Moscow’s campaign to destroy public resistance by assaulting the energy grid.
A Russian drone and missile attack on Ukraine killed six people and wounded scores more.
Nearly 600 drones and 36 missiles were launched into Ukraine in an attack that emphasised the country’s need for Western air defence assistance, as well as additional financial and political support, according to its president, Volodymyr Zelensky.
“We must work without wasting a single day to ensure that there are enough missiles for our air defence systems, and that everything necessary for our protection and for pressure on Russia is in place,” Zelenskyy told the media.
The midnight incident in Kyiv killed two persons and injured 38, according to Ukraine’s official emergency services. The attack disrupted power to the western half of the city, leaving at least 500,000 people without power. More than 400,000 households now have electricity after emergency responders restored it.
According to regional officials and police, one person was killed in the region surrounding the capital, two in south-eastern Dnipropetrovsk, and one in a lunchtime attack in the Kherson district in the south.
“While everyone is discussing points of peace plans, Russia continues to pursue its ‘war plan’ of two points: to kill and destroy,” Ukraine’s foreign minister, Andrii Sybiha, wrote on Saturday morning as Kyiv residents surveyed the damage after a heavy night of explosions that primarily targeted the capital.
Two waves of attacks could be heard across the capital, the first beginning around 1 a.m. and the second around 7 a.m., before an all-clear was issued just before 9.30 a.m.
Ukraine’s military claimed to have targeted the Afipsky oil refinery in Krasnodar Krai, one of the largest in southern Russia, creating a fire. The station provides diesel and jet fuel to Russian military operating in Ukraine.
Russia is attempting to shatter Ukraine’s civil resistance this winter by assaulting its energy infrastructure as the war enters its fourth year. The attacks come as a number of prominent Ukrainian political figures are entangled in a corruption investigation.
Andriy Yermak, Zelenskyy’s chief of staff, was forced to leave on Friday after anti-corruption officials raided his flat in connection with a kickback scheme. Two other ministers have already been sacked, and the scheme’s putative architect, Zelenskyy’s long-time acquaintance, has fled the country.
Zelenskyy announced on Friday that he would reform the president’s office, which Yermak ran as a gatekeeper to the leader, sparking discussion about who would lead it and how it would be reorganised.
An opposition MP urged the president to select Valerii Zaluzhnyi, Ukraine’s ambassador to the United Kingdom and former head of the military. In a social media post, Ukrainian politician Liudmyla Buimister stated that “a man trusted by the military, citizens, and international partners is exactly what we need now”.
Zaluzhnyi had been regarded as a potential political adversary to Zelenskyy, but the ambassador’s allies said on Saturday they were doubtful whether he would agree if asked.
Overnight, Yermak told the New York Post, “I’m going to the front and am prepared for any reprisals.” However, it remained unclear how he would serve in the military. “I am an honest and decent person,” he stated via text message.
Over the last two weeks, Yermak has led Ukraine’s negotiating team in response to the White House’s pro-Russia 28-point plan. It requested that Ukraine withdraw from Donetsk province and commit to a general amnesty, as well as that Western sanctions against Russia be lifted.
Talks halted this week due to the US Thanksgiving holiday, but are likely to resume shortly. A Ukrainian delegation led by Rustem Umerov, secretary of the country’s national security council, has left for Washington, Zelenskyy added.
On Saturday, a US official informed Reuters that Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, will meet with Ukrainian officials in Florida on Sunday.
Ukraine has issued a 19-point counterproposal, which was shared with Moscow. Witkoff is scheduled to visit Moscow next week, but few expect a breakthrough after Russian President Vladimir Putin characterised the Ukrainian authorities as illegitimate last week.
The corruption issue, by far the most severe domestic political crisis of Zelenskyy’s administration, has weakened Kyiv’s position, while Russia expects that prolonged bombing and a future financial crisis in Ukraine will wear it down.
Ukraine is expecting EU leaders will agree to a €140 billion (£122 billion) loan secured against Russian central bank assets to help shore up its budget starting next year, but opposition from Belgium, where the majority of the money is stored, has dashed expectations of reaching a deal by the end of this year.