Ukraine-Russia war latest: Zelensky suggests today’s peace talks with Moscow are postponed

In a nightly address on Saturday, Volodymyr Zelensky addressed the “technical incident” that cut power in Ukraine and Moldova.

“The causes are being thoroughly investigated. As of now, there is no confirmation of external interference or a cyberattack,” Zelensky emphasised.

“Most indications point to weather: ice buildup on the lines and automatic shutdowns.”

Officials in both countries reported that power was partially restored in the early afternoon following rushed efforts to stabilise interconnected grids.

Russian media have so far confirmed the identities of 168,142 Russian military personnel killed in Ukraine.

The latest investigation, conducted by cross-referencing public sources like obituaries, posts by relatives, regional media reports, and statements from local authorities, has led to the addition of 4,536 Russian soldiers to the list since the last update mid-January.

Russia’s actual losses could be significantly higher, investigators say.

The analysis comes following the publication of a new report from the Center for Strategic and International Studies, which noted that Russia has suffered “more losses than any major power in any war since World War II”.

Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky said on Saturday that Ukraine was waiting for more information from the US about future peace talks.

The last talks with Russia and the US took place last week. Zelensky indicated he expects the next round to happen next week, pushing back Sunday’s anticipated summit.

Separately, a delegation of US officials had “productive” meetings with Russian special envoy Kirill Dmitriev in Florida on Saturday, according to US special envoy Steve Witkoff.

Witkoff singled out the question of territory as the key to making progress in the negotiations, with Kyiv rejecting Moscow’s demand that it cede all of the Donbas region, including areas its army has not captured.

Kremlin foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov said this week that land was not the sole key issue under discussion, but did not identify other unresolved issues.

Additionally, Russia agreed to a request from Donald Trump to halt airstrikes on Kyiv until February 1 amid harsh winter temperatures, and Ukraine said it was ready to reciprocate as Washington pushes for a diplomatic solution to end the war.

Poland closed its airspace along its eastern border after its military radar detected objects entering from Belarus for the second time within 72 hours.

The mysterious objects are suspected to be smuggling balloons.

“This incident represents another in a series of hybrid-type events observed in the eastern region of Poland,” the Polish Operational Command said in a statement.

In recent times, Europe has been increasingly dealing with airspace alerts involving drones or unidentified objects.

This has prompted several European cities, including Brussels and Munich, to temporarily shut down their airspace.

The metro in Kyiv suspended operations and water supplies in the city were cut temporarily.

The state emergency service said its teams led 500 stranded passengers out of metro stations. Some passengers were seen waiting at a station with dimmed lights in anticipation of electricity being restored.

Traffic lights and some public transport in Chisinau were not working, according to the city’s mayor, and most districts did not have electricity.

The accident caused a shutdown on Ukraine’s side, triggering automatic protection at substations and the temporary disconnection of nuclear power plant units from the grid, Ukrainian energy minister Denys Shmyhal said.

Zelensky said nearly 3,500 apartment buildings lack heating in the capital.

“The city and utilities and energy experts are promising to fix the heating situation by tomorrow morning,” he said. “But the pace should be faster.”

Russia agreed to halt strikes on energy infrastructure until Sunday at the request of US president Donald Trump. Kyiv said it would reciprocate, and the countries did not report major attacks.

Regions in both Ukraine and Moldova were affected after the malfunction at 10.42am Kyiv time. Officials in both countries said power was restored later in the day following efforts to stabilise interconnected grids.

Officials in Moldova said it took 3 and a half hours for power supplies to return to normal in the country lying between Ukraine and Romania.

Ukrainian energy minister Denys Shmyhal said the two line outages between Ukraine and Romania and Moldova respectively occurred within a minute of each other, “leading to a cascade of shutdowns in seven regions of the country.”

Moldova’s energy ministry said the disruption there was triggered by problems in Ukraine’s grid that led to a voltage drop on the line connecting Romania and Moldova.

Reuters said Romania’s energy ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The system is under greater pressure as forecast night-time temperatures of -13 degrees Celsius (9 Fahrenheit) in Kyiv are due to sink to -22 C on Monday.

Parts of Ukraine and Moldova, including the neighbouring countries’ capitals, were plunged into blackouts on Saturday caused by a malfunction of high-voltage power lines, officials said. Power was restored later in the day.

Officials did not directly link the accident to war damage, although Ukraine’s power grid has suffered from the accumulated impact of Russian airstrikes, leading to severe restrictions on electricity supplies in recent weeks.

President Volodymyr Zelensky blamed ice buildup on power lines and ruled out a cyberattack.

“In the morning, a technological accident occurred on the power grid: two lines between Romania and Moldova and within the territory of Ukraine stopped operating,” he said in his nightly video address. “The causes are being thoroughly investigated.”

He said Ukraine had increased power imports to meet demand.

US negotiators have been trying to get Volodymyr Zelensky to agree to cede all of Donetsk and most of Zaporizhzhia and Kherson provinces as a reward for Russia’s bloody invasion that has, by many estimates, cost the country 1.2 million casualties.

The US administration has cut all military aid for Ukraine and allows only an intelligence feed to Kyiv’s forces, leaving its energy system so vulnerable to air attacks by Russia that most Ukrainians have no power in their homes.

World affairs editor Sam Kiley writes: