Russia says it shot down 92 drones over the Leningrad region northwest of Moscow. Governor Alexander Drozdenko announced this on the short message service Telegram. The region is home to the ports of Ust-Luga, Primorsk and Vysotsk, which are important for Russian oil and grain exports across the Baltic Sea, as well as the Kirishi refinery, the second largest in the country.
A drone attack on critical infrastructure has caused power outages and affected water and heat supplies in parts of the central Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih. As the head of the city's Defense Council, Oleksandr Wilkul, announced on the short message service Telegram, the water and sewage systems were stabilized with generators. The heat supply is becoming more difficult, and houses, schools and kindergartens have also been damaged. Rescue workers and supply services are on duty. Kryvyi Rih is an industrial metropolis and the hometown of President Volodymyr Zelensky. The latest attack came amid renewed peace efforts and the first Russian-Ukrainian talks in nine months in Abu Dhabi.
Latvia and Lithuania have raised the alarm about a threat in the airspace. Early on Wednesday morning, residents in several regions of both countries were called upon to seek shelter, the authorities said. The reason for this was unknown drones that had entered the airspace over neighboring Russia or Belarus. NATO air surveillance fighter planes then took off. According to Lithuania's National Crisis Management Center, the warning also applied to the country's second largest city, Kaunas, with around 300,000 residents. There were initially no reports of injuries. Ukrainian military drones have recently repeatedly invaded the airspace of Finland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. This is fueling concerns that the war in Ukraine could spill over into NATO states bordering Russia and its ally Belarus. During Ukrainian attacks on Russian oil ports on the Baltic Sea, some drones missed their targets and triggered security warnings in neighboring countries.
According to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, on the first day of negotiations in Abu Dhabi, negotiators from Kiev and Moscow primarily discussed a prisoner exchange. “One would like to exchange 1,000 for 1,000, possibly 1,500 for 1,500, a big exchange,” Zelensky said at a news conference in Copenhagen. The US delegation will travel to Russia “with this agenda” after the negotiations, Zelensky said. The Russian side also raised the territorial issue. “This is a question at the level of the heads of state,” Zelensky emphasized, but his negotiators still had a mandate to discuss this issue.
Ukraine's relations with South Korea are on the mend after a dispute over North Korean prisoners of war, according to Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha. According to Ukrainian media, Sybiha said he had a “good meeting” with his South Korean colleague Cho Hyun on the sidelines of a G7 ministerial meeting. South Korea recalled its ambassador in October. Previously, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told the UN General Assembly that Ukraine had transferred two captured North Korean soldiers to the South. According to Seoul, the disclosure violated a confidential agreement.
A tanker carrying the first shipment of Russian diesel for the United States is interrupting its journey off the US east coast, according to shipping data. The ship's destination has not yet been determined, the Greek operating company Eastmed told the Reuters news agency. The tanker is waiting for instructions. In October, US President Donald Trump surprisingly announced an agreement with the government in Moscow on diesel imports from Russia. He wanted to lower fuel prices before the US midterm elections. However, New Jersey's Democratic Gov. Mikie Sherrill has warned local port authorities and terminal operators not to accept the Russian diesel, saying it violates federal law.
On the first day of their talks in Abu Dhabi, Ukraine and Russia agreed on a new prisoner exchange, according to media reports. “It was possible to agree on a large exchange of prisoners of war in the near future,” reported the Internet portal “Ukrainskaya Pravda”, citing sources in the Ukrainian negotiating group. Other media such as the “Interfax-Ukraine” news agency also reported on it without giving any details. There was initially no official confirmation.
Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul has called for Europe to participate in a continuation of the newly started negotiations between Ukraine and Russia mediated by the USA. The CDU politician told journalists in Paris at the end of the discussions with his colleagues from the G7 round of economically strong democracies that he was “not ultimately satisfied” with the fact that the Europeans were informed by the USA and Ukraine at the current talks in Abu Dhabi, but were not present at the subsequent meeting with Russia.
According to US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the first day of US-mediated talks between representatives of Russia and Ukraine in Abu Dhabi is very productive. But there is still “a lot of work” to be done. The aim is also to expand the trilateral negotiations to Europe as they progress, says Rubio at the end of the G7 ministerial meeting in Paris.
Talks between Ukraine, Russia and the USA in Abu Dhabi about ways to end the war have ended today. They will continue tomorrow, Ukraine said.
Ukrainian drone attacks have reduced refinery capacity in Russia by around 30 percent since the end of October, according to industry insiders. Last week, nine of Russia's 35 major refineries experienced disruptions or incidents. The country's second largest refinery in Kirishi near St. Petersburg was hit on Monday. A fire broke out and a woman was killed. In total, plants with a processing capacity of around 300,000 tons of crude oil per day are affected. The actual decline in processing is likely to be up to 200,000 tonnes per day. The attacks exacerbate Russia's problems supplying the domestic fuel market. At the same time, the country continues to supply diesel to the global market as part of an agreement with US President Donald Trump. Ukraine stepped up its attacks after an energy ceasefire announced by Trump failed to materialize in late October. Moscow accuses Kiev of ignoring calls to stop the attacks. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky defends the drone strikes as a response to Russian attacks on his country's energy and utility infrastructure.
Russia rejects an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine, according to Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. It would be wiser to first discuss the basic principles of a future security architecture in Europe and only then talk about a ceasefire in Ukraine, said Lavrov, referring to the ongoing talks between Russia, Ukraine and the USA in Abu Dhabi.
Poland has arrested two Ukrainians on suspicion of espionage and sabotage on behalf of Russian secret services. The suspects are accused, among other things, of spying on critical infrastructure and military facilities throughout the country, the Internal Security Agency (ABW) announced on Tuesday. They are also said to have set vehicles on fire after replacing their license plates with ones that resembled those of the Ukrainian military. “The investigation revealed that the acts of sabotage were carried out at the behest of Russian secret services and served to stir up anti-Ukrainian sentiment,” the prosecutor’s office said. For executing the orders, they were paid in cryptocurrencies, among other things. If convicted, the two men face ten years to life in prison.
Representatives from the US, Ukraine and Europe met in Abu Dhabi ahead of US-brokered talks between Russia and Ukraine, according to US special envoy Steve Witkoff. Witkoff said participants discussed how to build on existing European security institutions and agreements after the war. “In addition to the central focus on lasting peace, the discussion also focused on how existing European security institutions and agreements can be built upon after the end of the war in Ukraine,” Witkoff wrote on the online platform X.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will travel to Denmark later today for a meeting with the leaders of the Nordic countries. This was announced by the office of Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen. The talks should, among other things, focus on military support for Ukraine and security in Europe, the statement continued.
After a break of more than eight months, Russia and Ukraine have begun two-day negotiations under US mediation in Abu Dhabi to end the war. Russian state media showed the start of the meeting in the capital of the United Arab Emirates.
According to French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot, representatives of European countries are present at the talks in Abu Dhabi. There can be no talks with Russia about European security until a ceasefire is agreed and peace is established, Barrot told Franceinfo radio. “The UK, Germany and France will indeed be present in the negotiating room.” The French presidential office also said that representatives from France, Great Britain, Germany, the EU, NATO and Italy would take part. There can be no lasting peace in Ukraine without ensuring the security of Europe.
Britain wants additional channels of communication with Russia, particularly at the military level. This is intended to reduce the risk of misjudgments, Defense Minister Wes Streeting told the Financial Times newspaper. The British Embassy in Moscow is an important channel, but he would very much welcome further direct contacts. Relations between Moscow and most European capitals, including London, have been on hold since Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Russian and Ukrainian representatives want to meet in Abu Dhabi for US-mediated talks. These are the first direct negotiations since February. Representatives from the EU, Germany and France are sending representatives to the talks. However, Russia has said it will not accept European representatives at the talks. From Kiev it was said that the Ukrainian delegation would separately inform its European allies about the progress of the talks. “We are doing everything to ensure that Europe is involved in the diplomatic process,” said the head of the Ukrainian delegation, Rustem Umyerov, on Monday. The Russian delegation includes, among others, Kremlin advisor Vladimir Medinsky and Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov.
The agreement with the USA on diesel deliveries is already having an effect and is lowering prices, writes Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in an article for the Moscow daily newspaper Kommersant. US President Donald Trump announced the agreement on October 9th. It envisages Russia supplying an initial 300,000 tons of diesel to the US and global markets to reduce fuel prices ahead of the US midterm elections. The US government temporarily suspended its sanctions against Russian fuel. Lavrov further writes that Ukraine is ignoring Trump's calls to stop attacks on Russian energy facilities. Meanwhile, Russian media reported renewed fuel shortages in at least half a dozen Russian regions. The reason for this is Ukrainian attacks on at least eight large oil refineries in the past two weeks.
US President Donald Trump says Russia and Ukraine are both tired of fighting. "We also see a very strong willingness to end the war between Russia and Ukraine. We are involved in that," Trump told reporters at the White House on Monday. He referred to “very good discussions” about this in Abu Dhabi. Trilateral talks led by the USA are scheduled to begin there on Tuesday. A US government official had previously said that both Russia and Ukraine were showing some flexibility behind the scenes on a possible exchange of territory. A main topic of the talks is security guarantees for Ukraine, including a possible guarantee of assistance along the lines of Article Five of the NATO Treaty. Public behavior
