+++ Ukraine War +++: Power outages in twelve Ukrainian regions after Russian attacks

Felicitas Dahmen

Ukraine: Three dead in Russian attack on Odessa

According to authorities, three people were killed in a Russian attack on an infrastructure facility in the southern Ukrainian port city of Odessa. Another person was injured and was in a serious condition, the head of the city's military administration, Serhiy Lyssak, said on Telegram. Lyssak did not specify which target was hit.

Patricia Hoffhaus

Ukraine: Power outages in twelve regions after Russian attacks

According to the authorities, there are power outages in twelve regions of Ukraine after new Russian attacks on energy facilities. The affected areas included Kiev, Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk, Zaporizhia and Odessa, said Deputy Energy Minister Artem Nekrasov. “Due to significant damage, the situation remains most difficult in the Dnipropetrovsk and Kiev regions.” Russia targeted Ukraine's energy and oil and gas sectors 128 times last week, Nekrasov said. In addition, a total of 219 incidents were registered in which infrastructure in these areas was damaged or destroyed.

Anna Kipnis

Kremlin: Ukraine peace talks in Abu Dhabi without Europeans

The Kremlin does not see European representatives taking part in this week's Ukraine peace talks in Abu Dhabi. The discussions will take place in a three-way format between delegations from Russia, Ukraine and the USA, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists. Both the Ukrainians and the USA had their own communication channels with their European partners. French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said on Sunday that French representatives would be present at the meeting on November 10th and 11th.

Henning Ott

Ukraine attacks Russian oil refinery

The oil refinery in Kirishi in the Leningrad region caught fire after a Ukrainian drone attack, according to Governor Alexander Drozdenko. The fire had been brought under control, he wrote on Telegram. A woman was killed by falling debris from the drone.

Sarah Sendner

Trump expects the war to end soon and Ukraine's borders to change

US President Donald Trump expects the war to end soon and is bringing changes to Ukraine's borders into play. “I think we will get it done, and I think it will happen, and they will end up with a Ukraine in a slightly different form,” Trump said in an interview on CBS. When asked if Russian President Vladimir Putin was stalling him, he replied: "Oh, I don't think so." US Secretary of State Marco Rubio explains that Trump is probably alluding to progress on security guarantees for Ukraine and Europe, which have repeatedly played a role in the negotiations.

Sarah Sendner

Trump expects to meet with Putin and Xi at the APEC summit

US President Donald Trump expects to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping at the APEC summit in China next week. Such a meeting would be “interesting,” Trump told reporters. Many topics will be discussed, including denuclearization and ending the war in Iran.

Julius Stockheim

Ukraine attacks Russian drone control centers

The Ukrainian armed forces have targeted several Russian drone control centers in the occupied territories in the east of the country and in Russia itself. A total of four of these ground stations were attacked, the General Staff in Kiev announced on Facebook. The “most valuable target” was a command center in Berdyansk in the south of Zaporizhzhia Oblast.

From there, the Russian elite drone unit “Rubikon” directed unmanned aircraft to carry out attacks against the civilian population near the front. “The occupiers near Oleshky in the Kherson region and in the Donetsk region are now also left without “remote controls,” reported the general in Kiev. On Russian territory, a drone control center in the Bryansk region was hit.

Anna Kipnis

France: Europeans also present at talks in Abu Dhabi

According to French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot, France and Europe will be “represented” in the upcoming negotiations between Ukraine and Russia under US mediation. French negotiators would be in Abu Dhabi to take part in these talks, Barrot assured in an interview with broadcaster RTL. He did not comment on details.

“I cannot yet tell you who will represent France on this occasion,” Barrot said. The minister said Europeans had raised their voices in recent weeks and made it clear to US mediators that no discussion about the continent's future could ignore their demands. “France will be there and will make the voice of Europe heard, which is the most affected,” Barrot said.

Anna Kipnis

Another attack: Drone damages rescue equipment in Ukraine

Almost a week after a Russian attack on an aid distribution point in the southern Ukrainian village of Komyshuwacha, the emergency services there came under fire. A Russian drone carried out the attack, the civil protection service said on Sunday. No one was injured, but rescue equipment was damaged.

At least 55 people were killed in the first attack on the dispensary on Monday. Around 50 people are still missing, according to the Ukrainian military intelligence agency HUR. Many of the bodies recovered have not yet been identified. DNA analyzes are ongoing.

Julius Stockheim

IAEA: Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant relies on emergency power after power outage

The Russian-controlled Ukrainian Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant has lost its external power supply and is once again being cooled with emergency generators. This was announced by the Moscow-appointed management of the plant and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). According to the UN agency, the Ferosplawna power line was interrupted for reasons that are still unclear. The Dniprovska main line has been out of service since the end of October.

The Russian power plant management explained that the connection was switched off by an automatic protection mechanism. The radiation levels on the site are normal. According to the IAEA, the power plant has enough fuel to run the diesel generators for around two weeks. The largest nuclear power plant in Europe currently does not produce electricity, but requires energy to cool the fuel rods. Russian troops occupied the facility shortly after the invasion began in February 2022.

Julius Stockheim

Russia: Military attacks Ukrainian energy facilities and freighters

According to the Defense Ministry in Moscow, the Russian military attacked Ukrainian energy infrastructure and a container ship. The freighter was delivering weapons and military equipment and was hit southwest of the Black Sea port city of Odessa, the ministry said. The armed forces also shelled a substation in the Zhytomyr region. This supplied the Ukrainian defense industry with electricity.

Julius Stockheim

Russia: One dead in Ukrainian drone attack

According to the local governor, one person was killed in a Ukrainian drone attack on the Russian border region of Kursk. The drone hit a moving tractor in the village of Pervomayskoye, said Alexander Chinshtein. A 40-year-old man was killed. There was initially no statement from Kyiv.

Julius Stockheim

More than 600,000 people without power after Russian attack

More than 600,000 people in the east of the country are without power after a Russian attack, according to Ukrainian authorities. “Important energy facilities in the region were damaged in a nighttime attack,” said the Ukrainian energy supplier DTEK on the short message service Telegram. The Dnipropetrovsk region is affected. Russia repeatedly attacks the Ukrainian energy infrastructure.

Vivian Melchert

Zelenskyj announces further personnel consequences at the SBU secret service

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj has announced further personnel consequences at the domestic secret service SBU following a corruption scandal. Anti-corruption authorities filed charges against several high-ranking security and judicial officials this week. You are accused of protecting a crime ring. The alleged crimes were “frankly shameful, absolutely unacceptable,” Zelensky said in a video address on Saturday.

There have already been layoffs at the SBU because of this, and further personnel decisions will follow. He expects a full investigation with concrete results. According to investigators, the criminal group operated fraud centers, dealt drugs and manufactured counterfeit money and counterfeit cigarettes. Top officials from the SBU, the national police and the Attorney General's Office are said to have helped.

Some of them are also involved in planning kidnappings and other acts of violence. A Ukrainian court ordered a former SBU general to be remanded in custody 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 was related to the Italian government's support for Ukraine, Tajani said on Saturday. Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who is one of Ukraine's strongest supporters in the West, threw her support behind her deputy. The sale of confidential information about public officials is “a cause for serious concern.” There was initially no statement from the government in Moscow. Russia has always denied involvement in cyber attacks abroad.

Tajani wrote on Platform X that his transparent commitment to the freedom of a sovereign state had made him a target. The hackers were looking for more information about him and his family and were willing to pay for it. The attack is also a response to his ministry's efforts to strengthen cybersecurity.

Anna Lena Stahl

Laschet also calls for EU negotiators for Ukraine talks

The chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee in the Bundestag, 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 shows the entire lack of clarity and fragmentation of European foreign policy," Laschet told the Milan-based Italian newspaper "Corriere de la Sera".

Meloni wrote a letter to EU Council President António Costa with her proposal. “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

Zelensky calls Trump's peace plan dangerous

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

First there needs to be a discussion about how the war will be ended, Zelenskyj wrote on Platform X. Then his country needs security guarantees. In a third step, a new security architecture in Europe could be discussed. Ukraine is ready for a ceasefire and de-escalation. But there are no signals from Moscow to give in. "That's why it's 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.

Zelensky warned against attempts by the major powers to collude to the detriment of the EU, NATO and his country. "We all live in Europe. We don't want to have a Yalta, a second Yalta," he said.

Vivian Melchert

Death toll in Ukrainian aid center rises to 55

The death toll after the Russian bomb attack on an aid distribution point in the southern Ukrainian village of Komyshuwacha has risen to 55. Nine more bodies had been recovered in the past 24 hours, emergency services said on Saturday. Dozens of people are still missing.

On Monday, several Russian guided bombs hit a former school that was used as a shelter and distribution center for aid supplies. The rescue work in the village near the front in the Zaporizhzhia region continued for the sixth day on Saturday.

Vivian Melchert

Irish head of government: summit in Dublin not at risk

Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin does not see the two European summits next week at risk from the bomb threats against airlines and Irish media organizations.

Dozens of flights in large parts of Europe were affected by mysterious bomb threats this week and some were diverted. However, explosive devices were not found in any of the cases during checks by specialists. Irish media organizations also received threats via email. The public broadcaster RTÉ temporarily interrupted its programs on Friday because TV and radio studios had to be evacuated.

It was too early to say whether Russia was behind the false bomb threats against Irish media, Martin said in a statement this evening. “There is a general perception 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 perception that the increase in hybrid attacks is linked to Russia.” Micheal 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 USA and Ukraine. For the first time, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov is also a member of the negotiating group, reported the Interfax news agency.