A Ukrainian drone attack in southwestern Russia killed two people on Saturday as parts of Ukraine went without power following Russian assaults on energy infrastructure hours before peace talks were to restart in Germany.
Foreign policy advisers from the US, Ukraine and Germany, among others, were expected to meet in Berlin yesterday, German news agency dpa said.
Germany is also set to host Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy today, part of efforts by European leaders to steer the negotiations.
Photo: AFP
US special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law who has been working as an outside adviser, were traveling to Berlin for the talk, said a White House official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
US officials have tried for months to navigate the demands of each side as Trump presses for a swift end to Russia’s war and grows increasingly exasperated by delays. The search for possible compromises has run into major obstacles, including the possession of Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region, mostly occupied by Russia, but parts of which remain under Ukrainian control.
The drone attack in Russia’s Saratov region damaged a residential building and several windows were also blown out at a kindergarten and clinic, Saratov Governor Roman Busargin said.
The Russian Ministry of Defense said it had shot down 41 Ukrainian drones over Russian territory overnight.
In Ukraine, Russia launched overnight drone and missile strikes on five Ukrainian regions, targeting energy and port infrastructure. Ukrainian Minister of Internal Affairs Ihor Klymenko said that more than 1 million people were without electricity.
Russia had sent more than 450 drones and 30 missiles into Ukraine overnight, Zelenskiy said.
An attack on the Black Sea city of Odesa caused grain silos to catch fire at the port, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Infrastructure Oleksiy Kuleba said.
Two people were wounded in attacks on the wider Odesa region, regional military administration head Oleh Kiper said.
Kyiv and its Western allies say Russia is trying to cripple the Ukrainian power grid, and deny civilians access to heat, light and running water for a fourth consecutive winter, in what Ukrainian officials call “weaponizing” the cold.
On the front lines, Ukrainian forces on Saturday said that the northern part of the critical city of Pokrovsk was under Ukrainian control, despite Russia’s claims earlier this month that it had taken full control of the city.
The Associated Press was not able to independently verify the claims.
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