Ukraine updates: Russia launches 'massive attack' on Kyiv

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz on Friday vowed to increase pressure on Russia in a conversation with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. 

"The chancellor promised [Zelenskyy] that Germany will continue its support and expand cooperation in the defense industry," said government spokesman Stefan Kornelius.

Following their conversation, Zelenskyy took to X to thank Merz for his support.

"We greatly value Germany's solidarity and support," his social media post began. "Today, Russia carried out a terrorist strike on Ukraine, targeting our energy infrastructure, using hundreds of drones and dozens of missiles. Germany has made a significant contribution to protecting the lives of our people. I once again thanked them for the joint decision with Norway to provide us with two additional Patriot systems."

Zelenskyy said he also discussed with Merz "Russia's intentions and our shared ability to defend ourselves and ensure protection."

Melania Trump has said that children who were displaced by Russia's invasion of Ukraine have been reunited with their families.

The Slovenian-born US First Lady said that eight children had been "rejoined with their families during the past 24 hours" after talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

In her announcement at the White House Friday, Melania Trump said she has "an open channel of communication regarding the welfare" of thousands of children who were forcibly transferred to Russia from occupied eastern Ukraine.

She said the talks were initiated after she sent Putin a letter via her husband Donald Trump when the US and Russian presidents met for a peace summit in Alaska in August, which has failed to yield any meaningful breakthrough.

"Much has unfolded since President Putin received my letter last August. He responded in writing signalling a willingness to engage with me directly and outlining details regarding the Ukrainian children residing in Russia," the US First Lady told a press conference.

She added that both Russia and the US had had "several back channel meetings and calls, all in good faith" concerning the reunification of children with their families.

The leaders of the United Kingdom, France and Germany said Friday that they have agreed to "progress toward using" the value of frozen Russian assets to help finance Ukraine in its defense against Russia's invasion.

In a joint statement, the leaders of the three European allies — known collectively as the E3 — said they aimed for the United States to closely cooperate in that endeavor.

"We will increase pressure on Russia as President Putin continues his stalling tactics and abhorrent attacks in response to peace talks," the statement by the UK's Keir Starmer, France's Emmanuel Macron and Germany's Friedrich Merz said.

"To that end, we are ready to progress towards using, in a coordinated way, the value of the immobilized Russian sovereign assets to support Ukraine’s armed forces and thus bring Russia to the negotiation table." 

At a meeting in Copenhagen this month, the European Commission (EC) proposed the new "reparations" loan mechanism, which would see the funds disbursed in tranches, EC President Ursula von der Leyen said.

Earlier on Friday, Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelenskyy had said that he had discussed using Russian assets with the president of the European Central Bank, Christine Lagarde.

"We discussed how to ensure the fair use of frozen Russian assets to protect against Russia’s war and to help rebuild life in Ukraine. There are solutions for how this can be done," Zelenskyy said on X.

In a later post, the Ukrainian leader said a decision on using the assets was "getting closer."

Moscow has accused authorities in Kyiv of interrupting negotiations brokered by Turkey to resolve the war in Ukraine.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Friday blamed "Kyiv's unwillingness to respond in any way" to issues raised by Russia.

Moscow has repeatedly said the "root causes" of the war in Ukraine need to be addressed for a lasting peace to be agreed.

But those core demands include Ukraine abandoning its pro-Western ambitions, including joining NATO, as well as installing a government that favors close ties with Moscow. 

When Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin said one of the aims of Moscow's "special military operation" was to "demilitarize and denazify" the regime in Kyiv.

Those aims refer to claims propagated by the Kremlin that the Ukrainian government is backing neo-Nazis, particularly in the Donbas region in eastern Ukraine, where Russia has backed separatists and occupied swathes of resource-rich territory.

Trump has 'political will' for Ukraine peace — Peskov

During the interview with Russian state television, Peskov also said that Russia remains optimistic that an August summit in Alaska between Putin and US President Donald Trump would deliver peace. 

"Given that we maintain our determination to proceed towards a peaceful resolution, it’s possible to say that the impetus is alive and will hopefully continue, and that President Trump retains the political will for peaceful settlement," he said, according to Russian state news agency TASS.

Peskov's remarks come despite the fact that no tangible progress has been made since Putin and Trump met in Anchorage.

Trump has spoken of his frustration with Putin at the situation and has appeared to shift his support towards Ukraine in recent weeks.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has said his country is already in a nuclear arms race with the United States and other major world powers.

Putin was speaking to reporters at the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) summit in Tajikistan on Friday, which gathers the leaders of former Soviet states from across Eurasia. 

His remarks come two weeks after Putin said he was willing to extend the limit on nuclear warheads under a treaty between the US and Russia, if Washington is ready to do the same. The New START treaty is set to expire in February. 

"Will these few months be enough to make a decision on an extension? I think it will be enough if there is goodwill to extend these agreements. And if the Americans decide they don't need it, that's not a big deal for us," Putin said.

The Russian leader added that Moscow would continue to develop and test next-generation nuclear weapons.

"We're ready to negotiate if it's acceptable and useful for the Americans. If not, then no, but that would be a shame, because then there would be nothing left in terms of deterrence in the area of ​​strategic offensive weapons," Putin said.

Russia's president also addressed the possibility that other, unnamed countries might be preparing to carry out nuclear tests. Putin warned that Russia would perform a test if other countries do so first.

North Korea, one of Russia's closest allies, is the only country to have tested nuclear weapons in the 21st century.

Some seucirty experts have raised fears that one country testing a nuclear weapon could trigger a domino effect that sees other nuclear powers do the same.

"There's always a temptation to test the effectiveness of the same fuel that's been in missiles for many, many years. All of this is being simulated on computers, and experts believe that is sufficient, but some of these same experts believe repeat tests are necessary," Putin said.

"So some countries are thinking about it; as far as I know, they're even preparing, and that's why I said that if they do it, we'll do the same," Putin added.

Poland's Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski has said his country is ready to provide generators, extra electricity supplies and a Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) terminal to neighboring Ukraine.

The pledge comes after Moscow has stepped up its attacks in recent weeks targeting Ukrainian energy infrastructure, including a massive barrage of drones and missiles overnight.

The attack severed power to large parts of the country, including the capital, Kyiv, where water supplies were also interrupted.

During a visit to the western Ukrainian city of Lviv, Sikorski said, "Generators, extra electricity supplies, accelerated construction of power connections between Ukraine and Poland, and of course, our LNG terminal in Swinoujscie" would be made available to Ukraine. 

"This is another escalation, because we know why it's being carried out. It's meant to intimidate people ahead of winter," Sikorski added during a press conference with his Ukrainian counterpart Andrii Sybiha.

Russia's overnight strikes on Kyiv temporarily cut off water supplies to 2 million households, Ukraine's deputy prime minister has said.

In a post on Telegram, Oleksiy Kuleba said that the water supply had been restored to 2 million customers, but some 4,000 homes were still cut off.

Kuleba also said that work to "eliminate the consequences of the massive shelling of Ukraine's energy facilities is ongoing."

"This is a deliberate decision by the Russian Federation to disrupt the heating season, sow panic within the country, and destabilize the situation," Kuleba said.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko had said earlier on Friday that around half of the Ukrainian capital had been left without power.

He said the strikes overnight came exactly three years after Russia first targeted Ukraine's energy system with drones and missiles.

Oleksandr Syrskyi, commander of the Ukrainian armed forces, said Ukraine struck targets in Russia 70 times last month.

"We are destroying the production of fuels and lubricants, explosives, and other components of the Russian military-industrial complex in the aggressor country," he wrote on Facebook.

"In particular, oil refining in Russia has been reduced by 21%," Syrskyi added.

With diplomatic efforts to end the war stalled, Ukraine has increasingly targeted Russia's oil refining capacity. Meanwhile, Russian forces have focused on crippling Ukrainian gas production and energy infrastructure.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called on allies to respond with concrete measures after Russia launched a barrage of drones and missiles at Ukrainian energy facilities.

In a statement posted on X, Zelensky said, "What’s needed is not window dressing but decisive action — from the United States, Europe, and the G7 — in delivering air defense systems and enforcing sanctions."

He added that Russia had launched more than 450 drones and over 30 missiles in the overnight attack.

US President Donald Trump suggested expelling Spain from NATO due to a disagreement about the Western European nation's military spending.

During Thursday's meeting in the Oval Office with Alexander Stubb, president of Finland, Trump said European leaders must persuade Spain to increase its commitment to the alliance.

"You people are going to have to start speaking to Spain," Trump said. "You have to call them and find out why they're lagging behind."

He added, "They have no excuse not to do this, but that's all right. Maybe you should throw them out of NATO, frankly."

In June, NATO members agreed to sharply increase their military spending to 5% of their gross domestic product (GDP), a major priority for Trump, who wanted Europeans to spend more on their own defense.

However, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said at the time that he would not commit to the 5% target, calling it "incompatible with our welfare state and our world vision."

Ukraine's capital, Kyiv, has been targeted in an overnight missile and drone attack by Russia, the Ukrainian air force said.

"The capital of the country is under an enemy ballistic missile attack and a massive attack by the enemy strike drones," the Ukrainian air force said and urged residents to remain in shelters. 

Journalists from the AFP news agency reported hearing several large explosions in the city and power outages at their homes located in several parts of the capital.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said Russian attacks on "critical infrastructure" left at least nine people injured, five of whom needed hospital treatment.

"The left bank of the capital is without electricity. There are also problems with water supply," Klitschko said on the Telegram platform.

Ukrainian Energy Minister Svitlana Grynchuk said Russian forces were "inflicting a massive strike" on the country's energy sites.

"Energy workers are taking all necessary measures to minimize the negative consequences," Grynchuk said on Facebook.

"As soon as security conditions allow, energy workers will begin clarifying the consequences of the attack and restoration work," she said.

A regional official said that a seven-year-old child was killed in Zaporizhzhia in the southeastern part of the country.

"Tragic news. A 7-year-old boy who was wounded in a nighttime Russian attack has died in hospital," Ivan Fedorov said on the Telegram platform.

As another winter approaches, Russian forces have been targeting Ukraine's critical infrastructure as the invasion continues.

DW brings you the latest headlines related to Russia's war in Ukraine.

Ukraine's military said the capital has faced another Russian attack involving drones and ballistic missiles.

Local authorities say at least nine people have been injured in the latest bombardment.

The country's energy minister said that Russia has targeted energy sites which has plunged parts of the capital into darkness.

Stay with DW for the latest news and analysis.