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Russia launched 450 drones and 45 missiles to attack Ukraine’s energy infrastructure as Zelensky reiterated his call for sanctions
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Ukraine will face nationwide power cuts of eight to 16 hours today after Russian strikes left parts of the country’s energy system in ruins, officials said.
State-owned energy company Tsentrenergo said the attacks were one of the largest on its facilities since the start of the war in February 2022, and that it had halted operations at its plants in the Kyiv and Kharkiv regions.
Russia launched hundreds of drones and missiles targeting energy infrastructure between Friday and Saturday, killing at least seven people.
An overnight drone attack by Ukraine temporarily disrupted power and heating supplies in the southwestern Russia city of Voronezh, governor Alexander Gusev said on the Telegram messaging app.
Meanwhile, work is under way to prepare proposals for a Russian nuclear test, Moscow has said, in what would be its first test of a nuclear weapon in 35 years.
The order was made in response to Donald Trump’s surprise announcement last week that the US would resume testing.
New satellite images show how Pokrovsk, a key strategic city in Ukraine currently witnessing the fiercest fighting in the war with Russia, has been largely reduced to ruins.
On Thursday, Russia’s defence ministry said its forces had advanced in the battered city and were engaged in house-to-house battles as part of Vladimir Putin’s desperate push to capture his first meaningful urban centre in over a year.
Satellite images taken on Monday showed the deadliest sector of fighting between both sides shrouded in smoke and battered by months of fierce fighting.
Arpan Rai reports:
Russia’s defence ministry said that Russian forces have captured the settlement of Rybne in Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region on Sunday.
The hamlet has around 34 residents, according to MapCarta.
Russia’s foreign minister Andrii Sybiha has accused Russia of endangering nuclear safety in Europe after overnight attacks on Ukraine targeted two substations that supply two nuclear power plants. Seven people were killed in the strike.
“Russia once again targeted substations that power the Khmelnytskyi and Rivne nuclear power plants,” Sybiha said on X/Twitter.
“These were not accidental but well-planned strikes. Russia is deliberately endangering nuclear safety in Europe.”
Thousands have been left without power as Ukraine reels from one of the largest Russian attacks on Friday, which saw the country targeted by 450 drones and 45 missiles.
Russian forces have advanced into the eastern Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk, Moscow has said, as it hunts for its most significant territorial gain in nearly two years.
Around 100,000 Russian troops are circling Pokrovsk, a city that Russia has been trying to capture for over a year, located in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region that Vladimir Putin has long sought full Russian control over.
Kyiv’s military says it is pushing back forcefully, but battlefield maps show Russian forces are edging forward. A military analyst has warned that Ukraine will soon be forced to make a decision on whether to pull troops from Myrnohrad, a nearby town close to being encircled by Russian forces.
The following are the key facts about Pokrovsk, which Russians call by its Soviet-era name of Krasnoarmeysk, and the long battle for its control, which began in earnest in mid-2024.
Alex Croft reports:
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that the US is reviewing President Vladimir Putin’s proposals on controls on nuclear weapons.
Lavrov said Russia had been informed of the update through diplomatic channels.
The proposal would see both countries stick to the limitations set out in the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) beyond its expiration in February 2026.
“So far, there has been no substantive response from Washington. We were told through diplomatic channels that ‘the issue is under consideration,” Lavrov told RIA Novosti.
Putin has said that Russia will continue to adhere to the treat’s limits for a year after its expiration, provided the US does too.
Russia said it continues to advance in house-by-house fighting in the strategic town of Pokrovsk where the battle with Ukraine has intensified in recent days.
The tiny village of Vovche in eastern Ukraine was captured on Saturday, according to the defence ministry’s Telegram account. Its inhabitants are said to be 13 people, according to census data from 2001.
Russia’s foreign minister Sergei Lavrov has said he is ready to meet with US secretary of state Marco Rubio, reviving hopes of diplomatic talks on Ukraine.
“Secretary of State Marco Rubio and I understand the need for regular communication,” Lavrov said in an interview with RIA Novosti.
“It is important for discussing the Ukrainian issue and promoting the bilateral agenda. That is why we communicate by telephone and are ready to hold face-to-face meetings when necessary.”
A highly-anticipated meeting between President Donald Trump and President Vladimir Putin was stalled after Lavrov was said to have taken a hardline stance during a call with Rubio last month. Trump said he did not want to “waste time”.
Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said on Saturday that work is under way on Vladimir Putin’s order to prepare proposals for a possible Russian nuclear test, state news agency Tass reported.
According to Tass, Lavrov said: “Regarding President Vladimir Putin’s instruction at the Security Council meeting on November 5, it has been accepted for implementation and is being worked on. The public will be informed of the results.”
The order was in response to Donald Trump’s surprise announcement last week that the US would resume testing.
Lavrov said Russia had received no clarification from the US regarding Trump’s order.
Russia-US relations have deteriorated sharply in the past few weeks as Trump, frustrated with a lack of progress towards ending the war in Ukraine, has cancelled a planned summit with Putin and imposed sanctions on Russia for the first time since returning to the White House in January.
Lucy Leeson reports:
This is the moment an 11-year-old girl bravely confronts Vladimir Putin about her uncle injured in the war with Ukraine.
The child approached Putin at Russia’s Unity Day service on Tuesday (4 November), telling him how her uncle suffered an injury to the arm that went untreated in hospital before being sent back to fight.
She said “My uncle is currently at the front, he was wounded in the arm. He was in the hospital, they weren’t treating him, and now they’re sending him on a mission, and I would like him to be transferred to a good hospital in Russia.”
Putin replies: “We’ll find him, ok?”
An overnight drone attack by Ukraine temporarily disrupted power and heating supplies in the southwestern Russia city of Voronezh, a regional governor has said.
The attack on Voronezh, the administrative centre of the wider Voronezh region, caused no injuries, governor Alexander Gusev said on the Telegram messaging app.
Several drones were suppressed by electronic warfare systems, sparking a fire at a utility facility that was quickly extinguished, he added.
Safety measures led to brief changes in central heating temperatures in some homes and to short power cuts in parts of the city, but supplies later returned to normal, Mr Gusev said.
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