Ukraine-Russia war latest: Polish jets scrambled as Putin bombards Kyiv ahead of Trump-Zelensky peace talks

European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen will join a call today with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky, US president Donald Trump and other European leaders, a commission spokesperson told Reuters.

Emergency power cuts were implemented in Kyiv’s left bank after an overnight Russian aerial attack on the Ukrainian capital, according to Ukraine’s largest private electricity company DTEK.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un told Russian President Vladimir Putin their countries had shared “blood, life and death” in the Ukraine war, calling 2025 a “really meaningful year” for a bilateral alliance forged “in the same trench”, state media said on Saturday.

Pyongyang dispatched thousands of troops to fight for Moscow, according to South Korean and Western intelligence agencies, as Russia presses ahead with its nearly four-year invasion of Ukraine. In April North Korea publicly confirmed for the first time that it had sent personnel to support Moscow’s invasion and had suffered combat deaths. Earlier this month, North Korea acknowledged deploying an engineering regiment to clear mines in Russia’s Kursk region in August, with Mr Kim later saying at least nine soldiers were killed during the 120‑day mission.

President Volodymyr Zelensky has accused Russia of using apartment blocks in Belarus to attack Ukraine’s defences.

“We note that the Russians are trying to bypass our defensive interceptor positions through the territory of neighbouring Belarus. This is risky for Belarus,” the Ukrainian leader wrote on Telegram on Friday.

“It is unfortunate that Belarus is surrendering its sovereignty in favour of Russia’s aggressive ambitions.”

Belarus has remained a staunch ally of Russia, with President Vladimir Putin launching attacks on Ukraine from the territory in February 2022 that sparked the war.

Zelensky noted that Russian military were situated “in Belarusian settlements near the border, including on residential buildings.”

He added: “Antennae and other equipment are located on the roofs of ordinary five-storey apartment buildings, which help guide ‘Shaheds’ (Russian drones) to targets in our western regions. This is an absolute disregard for human lives, and it is important that Minsk stops playing with this.”

Poland has temporarily closed two airports in the south, Rzeszow and Lublin, after the Polish armed forces scrambled fighter jets due to Russian strikes on Ukraine, the Polish Air Navigation Services Agency said on Saturday.

Russia attacked Kyiv and other regions of Ukraine with missiles and drones on Saturday, ahead of what president Volodymyr Zelensky said would be a key meeting with US president Donald Trump to work out a deal to end nearly four years of war.

Before the overnight attacks, Mr Zelensky said his talks in Florida tomorrow would focus on the territory to be controlled by each side after a halt to the fighting that began in February 2022 with president Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Russia’s smaller neighbour, Europe’s deadliest conflict since World War Two.

Explosions sounded in Kyiv as Ukraine’s air defence units went into action, and the military said on the Telegram messaging app that missiles were being deployed. The air force said Russian drones were targeting the capital and regions in the northeast and south.

An air raid alert remained in effect in the capital some four hours after being introduced, according to Reuters. There were no immediate reports of damage or power cuts