+++ Ukraine War +++: More than 600,000 people in Ukraine without electricity after Russian attack

Julius Stockheim

Russia: Military attacks Ukrainian energy facilities and cargo ships

According to the Ministry of Defense in Moscow, the Russian military has attacked Ukrainian energy infrastructure as well as a container ship. The ministry stated that the freighter had delivered weapons and military equipment and was hit southwest of the Black Sea port city of Odesa. In addition, the armed forces shelled a substation in the Zhytomyr region, which had been supplying electricity to the Ukrainian defense industry.

Julius Stockheim

Russia: One dead in Ukrainian drone attack

According to the governor of Russia's border region of Kursk, one person was killed in a Ukrainian drone attack. Alexander Khinshtein said the drone hit a moving tractor in the village of Pervomayskoye, killing a 40-year-old man. There was no immediate comment from Kyiv.

Julius Stockheim

More than 600,000 people without power following Russian attack

According to Ukrainian authorities, more than 600,000 people in the east of the country are without electricity following a Russian attack. "Important energy facilities in the region were damaged in a nighttime attack," the Ukrainian energy supplier DTEK announced on the messaging service Telegram. The Dnipropetrovsk region is affected. Russia has repeatedly targeted Ukraine's energy infrastructure.

Vivian Melchert

Zelenskyy announces further personnel consequences at SBU intelligence agency

Following a corruption scandal, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has announced further personnel consequences within the domestic intelligence agency SBU. Anti-corruption authorities brought charges against several high-ranking security and judicial officials this week, accusing them of protecting a criminal ring. The alleged crimes are "frankly shameful, absolutely unacceptable," Zelenskyy said in a video address on Saturday.

Dismissals have already taken place at the SBU as a result, and further personnel decisions will follow, he said. He expects a full investigation with concrete results. According to investigators, the criminal group operated fraud centers, trafficked drugs, and produced counterfeit money and fake cigarettes. Top officials from the SBU, the national police, and the Prosecutor General's Office allegedly helped facilitate these operations.

According to reports, some of them were also involved in planning kidnappings and other acts of violence. A Ukrainian court ordered pre-trial detention for a former SBU general on Friday. Two police officers and another suspect were also taken into custody this week.

Vivian Melchert

Italy's Foreign Minister: Pro-Russian hackers published personal data

Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani has blamed pro-Russian hackers for publishing his personal data on the dark web. The attack is linked to the Italian government's support for Ukraine, Tajani said on Saturday. Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, one of the West's strongest supporters of Ukraine, backed her deputy, calling the sale of confidential information about officials "a matter of serious concern." There was no immediate comment from the government in Moscow. Russia has consistently denied any involvement in foreign cyberattacks.

Writing on the platform X, Tajani stated that his transparent commitment to the freedom of a sovereign state had made him a target. The hackers were searching for more information about him and his family and were willing to pay for it, he added, noting that the attack was also a reaction to his ministry's efforts to strengthen cybersecurity.

Anna Lena Stahl

Laschet also calls for EU negotiator for Ukraine talks

The chairman of the Bundestag's Foreign Affairs Committee, Armin Laschet (CDU), has joined Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's call for a unified European voice in the Ukraine negotiations. "Prime Minister Meloni's proposal is very important, and it highlights the complete lack of clarity and fragmentation of European foreign policy," Laschet told the Milan-based Italian newspaper *Corriere della Sera*.

Meloni had addressed her proposal in a letter to European Council President António Costa. "What I continue to demand is that it be decided once and for all who sits at the negotiating table on behalf of the European Union and with what mandate," Meloni wrote.

Vivian Melchert

Zelenskyy calls Trump's peace plan dangerous

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is skeptical of the U.S. proposal for a new European security order as a way out of Russia's war of aggression against his country. "Between us, for me this is not easy. And it can even be dangerous," Zelenskyy said in a CNN interview.

First, there needs to be a discussion on how to end the war, Zelenskyy wrote on the platform X. Then his country needs security guarantees. Only in a third step could a new security architecture in Europe be discussed. Ukraine is ready for a ceasefire and de-escalation, but there are no signals of a change of course from Moscow. "That is why it is dangerous if they don't talk about how to end the war. Russia wants to start with the new security structure in Europe," he said in the interview.

Zelenskyy warned against attempts by major powers to reach agreements at the expense of the EU, NATO, and his country. "We all live in Europe. We do not want Yalta, a second Yalta," he said.

Vivian Melchert

Death toll in Ukrainian aid center rises to 55

The death toll from the Russian bombing of an aid distribution point in the southern Ukrainian village of Komyshuvakha has risen to 55. Emergency services announced on Saturday that nine more bodies had been recovered over the past 24 hours. Dozens of people remain missing.

On Monday, several Russian guided bombs hit a former school that was being used as a shelter and aid distribution center. Rescue operations in the village, located near the frontline in the Zaporizhzhia region, entered their sixth day on Saturday.

Vivian Melchert

Irish Prime Minister: Dublin summits not under threat

Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin does not believe that next week's two European summits are threatened by the bomb threats against airlines and Irish media organizations.

Dozens of flights across Europe were affected by mysterious bomb threats this week and some were diverted. However, no explosives were found during checks by specialists. Irish media organizations also received similar threats by email. Public broadcaster RTÉ temporarily suspended its programs on Friday because TV and radio studios had to be evacuated.

It is still too early to say whether Russia is behind the hoax bomb threats against Irish media, Martin said in an evening statement. "There is a general view that the increase in hybrid attacks is linked to Russia," the conservative politician said, according to the British news agency PA.

"There is a general view that the increase in hybrid attacks is linked to Russia." — Micheál Martin

Vivian Melchert

Interfax: Russia sends high-level delegation to Abu Dhabi

Russia is sending a high-level delegation of diplomats and military officials to the upcoming talks with the U.S. and Ukraine. According to the Interfax news agency, citing Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov will be among the negotiating group for the first time. The delegation will once again be led by Kremlin adviser Vladimir Medinsky. The trilateral meeting on Tuesday and Thursday in Abu Dhabi is set to discuss ending the war in Ukraine—the first talks of their kind since February. Russian President Vladimir Putin met with the delegation members on Friday during a Security Council session. According to Interfax, high-ranking General Staff officer Yuri Shigarlovsky and intelligence chief Igor Kostyukov are also traveling to the United Arab Emirates.

Vivian Melchert

Russia: Minor damage in Ukrainian drone attacks

According to Russian authorities, Ukrainian drone and missile attacks on several Russian regions caused minor property damage. There were no casualties, the Ministry of Defense in Moscow stated. Air defense systems destroyed 411 Ukrainian drones over more than a dozen Russian regions during the night. According to a report by the Interfax news agency, commercial warehouses and production facilities were hit in the central Russian city of Oryol.

The attack triggered a fire that was later extinguished, Interfax reported, citing regional governor Andrei Klychkov. Another drone attack damaged several residential buildings in the Saratov region, according to Governor Roman Busargin. There were no casualties there either.

Alisa Swoboda

Russia reports massive infrastructure attacks in and around Kyiv

Russia stated that it launched massive overnight attacks on Ukraine's defense industry as well as energy and transport infrastructure in and around Kyiv. The Ministry of Defense in Moscow reported that the Northern Bridge and the Meridian plant were hit in the Ukrainian capital. The bridge is used to transport weapons and military equipment, while the plant manufactures Flamingo cruise missiles.

Several energy and industrial facilities were also damaged in the Kyiv region, including a power plant, a substation, and an ammunition factory. Mayor Vitali Klitschko announced that the power outage is also affecting district heating and water supplies.

In addition, Russian forces attacked a substation in the Zhytomyr region west of Kyiv, as well as a cargo ship in the Black Sea. The ship was transporting military equipment to Ukraine.

Angelika Ahrens

Pistorius sees little hope for an early ceasefire in Ukraine

Federal Minister of Defense Boris Pistorius (SPD) sees little hope for an early ceasefire in Ukraine ahead of next week's planned talks in Abu Dhabi between the U.S., Russia, and Ukraine. A truce depends on Russian President Vladimir Putin and the behavior of U.S. President Donald Trump, Pistorius told the newspapers of the Funke Mediengruppe (Saturday edition) according to an advance report. "The last few months give little hope that Trump's approach will quickly lead to a ceasefire or even peace." An understanding between Russia and the U.S. at the expense of Ukraine and over its head is acceptable neither to Ukraine nor to Europeans, the minister stated. The country must be able to rely on its sovereignty and territorial integrity not being endangered again.

If Europeans are not included, the question arises as to who will subsequently guarantee Ukraine's security and compliance with peace, he said. "No one can expect Europeans to do this alone if they are not involved in the process at all. Donald Trump knows that too," Pistorius said.

Angelika Ahrens

Klitschko: Russia attacks Kyiv with ballistic missiles

Russian forces have attacked the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, with missiles, according to Mayor Vitali Klitschko. "Explosions in the suburbs of Kyiv. The enemy is targeting infrastructure facilities with ballistic missiles," Klitschko wrote on Telegram. Debris hit a five-story residential building in a western district of the capital. In addition, the facade of another residential building was damaged. According to a Reuters eyewitness, loud explosions were heard in the city.

Patricia Hoffhaus

Zelenskyy: Attacks on Russian oil industry will continue

According to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Ukraine will continue its attacks on targets in the Russian oil industry. "Operations against Russian oil processing will continue in response to Russian attacks on Ukrainian energy facilities," the president stated on Telegram. Russian authorities reported several such attacks in the past week. Kyiv did not explicitly claim responsibility for them.

Patricia Hoffhaus

Zelenskyy and Klitschko clash over Kyiv's supply situation

Amid a dispute over Kyiv's preparations for Russian attacks, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Mayor Vitali Klitschko traded accusations of serious failings on Friday. On the online platform X, Zelenskyy described the situation in the capital as the "extremely serious" consequence of a failure to prepare for the heating season.

The city of more than three million inhabitants is suffering severe power and water outages following Russian attacks on energy infrastructure. Klitschko rejected the criticism, accusing the government of delaying the approval of an emergency plan for the metropolis. The central government is trying to weaken him with "constant manipulations" and is thus destroying the city, he stated.

Marie Boms

Ukraine: Russia uses its own "Rasswet" satellite network for drone attacks

According to Ukrainian military intelligence GUR, Russia is using its new "Rasswet" satellite network for military communications in the war against Ukraine. The aim is to control attack and reconnaissance drones more precisely and make them more resistant to electronic jamming, the intelligence agency told the Reuters news agency in a statement. Russia launched a total of 32 of these satellites into orbit in two phases this year, in March and July. The Russian Ministry of Defense did not initially comment on the matter.

The "Rasswet" system is seen as Russia's answer to the Starlink network operated by Elon Musk's US company SpaceX. While Ukraine makes intensive use of the military version of Starlink, "Starshield," Russia has no official access to it. With 32 satellites, the Russian network is significantly smaller compared to Starlink's more than 10,000 satellites.