Zelenskyy open to G20 meeting with Putin; industrial sites hit in Russia-Ukraine strikes

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says he is willing to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin at the G20 Summit in Miami in December.

Mr Zelenskyy was asked by German broadcaster Deutsche Welle if he would meet his Russian counterpart.

"We have to meet, to speak, and make decisions," he said.

The United States this year holds the presidency of the Group of 20 major economies, which comprises 19 nations plus the EU and the African Union.

The 21st meeting of the Group of Twenty (G20) will be held on December 14 and 15 at the Trump National Doral Miami. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is also expected to attend.

Separately, G20 leaders are also expected to meet in Houston next week to discuss energy concerns.

Russia will send officials to the Houston meeting, diplomat Marat Berdyev announced on Telegram on Saturday, but no similar announcement has come from Ukraine.

As the war nears its fifth year, the two countries continue to trade strikes, fuelling talks of a potential peacekeeping force among European leaders.

Talking to journalists at the BRICS summit in India on Friday, local time, Vladimir Putin said that sending European troops into Ukraine would amount to direct conflict with Russia.

"We do not threaten, nor do we intend to threaten, European countries."

Explosion at Bulgaria munitions facility servicing Ukraine

An explosion and fires have hit an ammunition storage site in central Bulgaria, police said Saturday, weeks after a blaze at another munitions facility in the country.

The latest incident happened late Friday at the warehouse operated by Bulgarian arms maker EMCO, whose munitions are used in Ukraine, near the central village of Gorni Varpishta.

No casualties were reported, and the extent of damage was not immediately clear.

"At present there is no danger to the population," local police said in a statement, adding that employees had been evacuated and the area cordoned off.

The incident came about a month after a fire at an ammunition depot at another nearby EMCO plant in Bulgaria, a NATO member and supporter of Ukraine.

EMCO ruled out human error in that case, and prosecutors are investigating.

Separately, six Russians have also been charged with terrorism over four explosions at arms facilities in the country between 2011 and 2020.

Prosecutors said the four blasts were remotely triggered and suspected the incidents were linked to efforts to disrupt arms supplies to Georgia and Ukraine.

Russia, Ukraine trade strikes on industrial sites

Industrial facilities in Russia's Samara region were attacked by Ukrainian drones on Saturday morning, Interfax reported, citing regional governor Vyacheslav Fedorishchev.

Mr Fedorishchev did not specify which facilities were targeted or whether they had been damaged.

Ilya Sukhikh, mayor of the city of Togliatti in Samara region, said several residential buildings were damaged and one person was injured.

Ukraine later confirmed one of Russia's largest synthetic rubber producers in Togliatti sustained damage in a strike, causing a fire.

It said in a statement that the Togliattikauchuk plant specialised in the production of synthetic rubbers and fuel additives that are used in fuel for Russian missiles.

In a separate attack, four commercial properties were set ablaze in the city of Taganrog in the Rostov region, local mayor Svetlana Kambulova said, according to TASS.

Russia's Defence Ministry said its forces had downed 230 Ukrainian drones overnight over more than a dozen Russian regions, as well as over Crimea and the Azov and Black seas.

It also said its forces struck two cargo vessels overnight in the Ukrainian Black Sea port of Chornomorsk, Interfax reported.

Three civilians were killed and dozens wounded in Ukraine, local officials said Saturday.

In the port of Odesa and the surrounding area, 28 people were wounded in what regional head Oleh Kiper called a "massive attack." Among the buildings hit was a residential high-rise, with the upper floors completely destroyed.

The ministry added Russian forces hit Ukrainian steelmaker Zaporizhstal in the city of Zaporizhzhia, an Interpipe Steel complex in Dnipro and several plants in Kryvyi Rih, including the Northern Iron Ore Beneficiation Works complex.