A Ukrainian drone attack in southwestern Russia killed two people and parts of Ukraine went without power following Russian assaults on energy infrastructure, authorities said Saturday, as U.S.-led peace talks continued.
Foreign policy advisors from the U.S., Ukraine and Germany, among others, will meet in Berlin on Sunday, the German news agency DPA reported. Germany is set to host Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday, part of efforts by European leaders to steer the negotiations.
For months, American officials have tried to navigate the demands of each side as President Trump presses for an end to Russia’s war. The search for compromise has run into a major obstacle over Ukrainian territory that Russian forces have occupied in the nearly four-year war.
The drone attack in Russia’s Saratov region damaged a residential building, and several windows were blown out at a kindergarten and clinic, said Gov. Roman Busargin. Russia’s Defense Ministry 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 Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said that more than a million people were without electricity.
Zelensky said Russia had sent more than 450 drones and 30 missiles into Ukraine overnight.
An attack on the Black Sea city of Odesa caused grain silos to catch fire at the port, Ukrainian deputy prime minister and reconstruction minister Oleksiy Kuleba said. Two people were wounded in attacks on the wider Odesa region, according to regional head Oleh Kiper.
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 said Saturday that the northern part of the critical city of Pokrovsk was under Ukrainian control, despite Russia’s claims this month that it had taken full control of the city. The Associated Press was not able to independently verify the claims.
The latest round of attacks came after Kremlin advisor Yuri Ushakov said Friday that Russian police and national guard members will stay on in eastern Ukraine’s Donbas and oversee the industry-rich region, even if a peace settlement ends the war. It underscores Moscow’s ambition to maintain a postwar presence in Donbas. Ukraine is likely to reject such a stance.
Moscow will give its approval to a ceasefire only after Ukraine’s forces have withdrawn from the front line, Ushakov said in comments published in the Russian business daily Kommersant.
In other developments, about 480 people were evacuated Saturday from a train traveling between the Polish city of Przemysl and Kyiv after police received a call concerning a threat on the train, Karolina Kowalik, a spokesperson for the Przemysl police, told the Associated Press. Nobody was hurt and she didn’t elaborate on the threat.
Polish authorities are on high alert since multiple attempts to disrupt trains on the line linking Warsaw to the Ukrainian border, including the use of explosives in November. Polish authorities say they have evidence Russia was behind it.