Ukraine: Russian strikes cut power to thousands

Russian drone and missile strikes on Odesa have left the Black Sea port without power and residents queuing for water.

The attacks come as EU, US and Ukrainian officials prepare to meet in Berlin to discuss peace efforts. Key disputes include the future of the Donbas region and Russia’s demand to retain control of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant. Diplomacy remains stalled as fighting intensifies.

Belarus released 123 political prisoners on Saturday, including Nobel Peace Prize laureate Ales Bialiatski, as its seeks sanctions relief from the United States. 

Ukraine said 114 of those prisoners, including prominent protest leader Maria Kolesnikova, are now on its territory, according to Kyiv's POW coordination center. Nine others, including Bialiatski, are in Lithuania after the release. 

Ukraine said the freed prisoners will be given medical attention. The prisoners can then choose to go to Poland or Lithuania after they receive medical help. 

A spokesperson for exiled Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya told AFP news agency that the freed captives were sent to Ukraine "unexpectedly." The spokesperson said this was at the behest of Belarus leader Alexander Lukashenko. 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said five Ukrainians were among the prisoners who were released by Belarus. 

Read more on the prisoner release here.

More than 1 million households have been left without electricity following an overnight Russian attack, with repair work already underway, Ukraine's grid operator has said.

Ukrenergo board chairman Vitalii Zaichenko told Ukrainian television that the situation was most severe in the Odesa, Mykolaiv, and Kherson regions.

"At present, more than one million customers are without power. However, repair crews from both Ukrenergo and distribution system operators have already started restoration work to reconnect consumers. I hope that today we will restore electricity to most of what was disconnected overnight," Zaichenko said.

He added that power supply conditions have improved in most regions on Saturday compared with previous days.

Zaichenko said Kyiv would face a total of six hours of outages, while some regions will see outages lasting 8 to 10 hours.

Russia launched more than 450 attack drones and 30 missiles of various types at Ukraine in the early hours of Saturday, damaging more than 10 civilian facilities, Ukrainian authorities said.

This is not the first time that Chancellor Merz warned of the tectonic changes that are already affecting Germany and Europe.

As Ukraine negotiations zoom in on Berlin, where Trump's chief negotiator Steve Witkoff is expected to meet Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Sunday, Merz's words resonate all the more. Even here, among delegates of his traditionally inward-looking conservative CSU sister party in Bavaria.

Merz's warnings were in part strikingly similar to Angela Merkel's sober assessment of Trump's intentions. When she returned from her first visit to see the new US President in 2017, she warned of Trump's America turning its back on Europe. But Merz goes much further.

He underlines his assessment that Europe "is no longer in peace" with Russia by comparing the situation in Ukraine to 1938, when Germany first annexed Austria, then parts of Czechoslovakia, and Britain and France tolerated Germany’s aggression, hoping Hitler would stop there. He didn't.

Merz's warning comes less than 48 hours after NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte warned that Europe is "next" for Putin.

The German chancellor sees Germany's return to economic growth as the precondition to Germany being able to lead Europe into a stable future that can preserve the European way of life in freedom, prosperity and under the rule of international law.

The fact that CSU delegates gave Merz more applause than their own party leader, Markus Söder, upon his reelection at the same party conference shows that while Germany is busy with its inner turmoil over much-needed spending reform, there is a growing appetite to face tough truths even among regional politicians here in Germany.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has warned that Russian President Vladimir Putin will continue his advance if Ukraine is defeated.

Speaking on Saturday at the party conference of the Bavarian conservative Christian Social Union (CSU) in Munich, Merz said Putin would not stop and argued that the war was about redrawing Europe’s borders and restoring the former Soviet sphere of influence.

Merz said this course posed a serious military threat to countries that were once part of that empire, including Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, which are now members of NATO and the EU, as well as other former Warsaw Pact states.

He has also warned Europe to prepare for a lasting shift in relations with the United States.

"The decades of Pax Americana are largely over for us in Europe, and for us in Germany as well. It no longer exists as we knew it. And nostalgia won't change that," he told a party congress in the southern city of Munich.

Merz told members of the CSU, sister party to his own Christian Democrats, this situation required Europe to strengthen its own defenses to deter an increasingly aggressive Russia. He warned strongly against making major concessions to Moscow in its war against Ukraine, repeating that Putin would not stop if Ukraine fell.

Diplomatic efforts to end the war have been intensifying. US special envoy Steve Witkoff is expected to travel to Berlin over the weekend to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and European leaders.

Merz did not outline specific expectations for the talks but named four priorities: continued support for Ukraine, EU unity, major investment in Europe's defense capabilities, and preserving NATO for as long as possible.

Ukraine has been working to restore electricity and water supplies after overnight Russian strikes hit multiple regions, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said.

In a message posted on Telegram, Zelenskyy said the main impact was again on the energy sector, particularly in the south and in the Odesa region.

He said two people were injured in the Odesa region and more than a dozen civilian facilities were damaged nationwide.

According to Zelenskyy, thousands of families were left without electricity after strikes in the Kirovohrad, Mykolaiv, Odesa, Sumy, Kharkiv, Kherson, and Chernihiv regions, with additional attacks reported in the Dnipro and Cherkasy regions.

Zelenskyy said Russia used more than 450 attack drones and 30 missiles of various types in the overnight assault.

He said emergency and utility services were working to stabilize the situation and thanked those involved in restoration efforts.

He said the attacks showed Russia was not seeking to end the war but to inflict maximum damage on Ukraine and its population.

Zelenskyy called for stronger support for Ukraine, including enhanced air defense, greater long-range capabilities, support for troops at the front, and increased pressure on Russia to end the war it launched.

Russian missile and drone strikes have crippled a major Ukrainian power plant, leaving Kyiv in darkness and forcing workers to salvage Soviet-era equipment.

With over 200 attacks since the war began, repairs are slow and parts scarce. Officials warn only stronger air defenses can prevent repeat strikes as crews race to restore electricity amid relentless bombardment and daily air raid alerts.

Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant temporarily lost all offsite power overnight for the 12th time during the war, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has said.

Military activity had disrupted the electrical grid, the agency said on Saturday, citing Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi.

Both external power lines have since been reconnected, according to the IAEA.

The Russian-controlled plant, located near the front line, is not operating but needs a constant electricity supply to keep its reactors cool, with backup diesel generators available when grid power is cut.

Russia has said it struck Ukrainian industrial and energy facilities overnight using hypersonic missiles in what it described as a retaliation attack.

The Defense Ministry said on Saturday it carried out a "massive strike" on Ukrainian military and energy targets, including with Kinzhal hypersonic missiles, in response to what it called Ukraine's attacks on civilian targets in Russia.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that the strikes damaged more than a dozen civilian facilities across Ukraine, leaving thousands without power in seven regions.

"It is important that everyone now sees what Russia is doing ... for this is clearly not about ending the war," Zelenskyy said on social media.

"They still aim to destroy our state and inflict maximum pain on our people," he added. 

Russia has repeatedly carried out large-scale missile and drone attacks on civilian targets across Ukraine since 2022.

Ukraine has conducted strikes inside Russian territory, especially since 2023, using drones, missiles, and sabotage operations. Ukraine says its attacks are aimed at military or dual-use targets and it denies deliberately targeting civilians.

The talks on a possible ceasefire in Ukraine between foreign policy advisers from the US, Ukraine, and Germany are expected to resume on Sunday in Berlin, German government sources told Germany's DPA news agency. 

The White House said Friday that US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff would travel to Berlin for talks with Ukrainian advisors and European officials.

Two people were killed overnight in a Ukrainian drone strike on the Russian city of Saratov, regional governor Roman Busargin said on Saturday.

The attack hit a residential building and also injured several people, Busargin said in a Telegram post.

Meanwhile, Russia's Defense Ministry said its air defenses downed 41 Ukrainian drones overnight, including 28 over the Saratov region.

Saratov, about 625 kilometers (360 miles) from the Ukrainian border, has been repeatedly targeted by drone attacks on its local oil refinery and military infrastructure since the war began.

What else is happening?

• Russia attacked two Ukrainian ports on Friday, damaging three Turkish-owned vessels, including a ship carrying food supplies
• Parts of the Kherson region in Ukraine without power on Saturday following Russian strikes on energy infrastructure
• In Russia's Voronezh region, debris from a downed Ukrainian drone hit a factory, impacting operations. No casualties were reported

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un welcomed home an army engineering unit that had been deployed to Russia for 120 days, state media KCNA reported on Saturday.

In a ceremony on Friday in Pyongyang, attended by the North Korean brass and families of the soldiers and cheered on by large crowds, Kim praised the "heroic" service of the soldiers during the mission, the report said.

Images of the ceremony released by KCNA showed Kim hugging the soldiers, some of whom appeared injured and in wheelchairs.

In his speech, Kim said troops helped clear mines in Russia's Kursk region, and touched upon the "pain of waiting for one hundred and twenty days" in which he "had never forgotten the beloved sons even for a moment."

Kim also paid tribute to nine soldiers who were killed during the deployment and announced state honors for the fallen and the regiment.

The report marks a rare public confirmation by Pyongyang of North Korean troops fighting for Russia.

According to South Korean, Ukrainian and Western sources, North Korea sent around 14,000 soldiers to Kursk last year. More than 6,000 of them were killed.

In return, experts say Russia is giving North Korea financial aid, military technology, food and energy supplies.

US President Donald Trump expressed frustration over slow progress in bringing the Ukraine war to an end and wants definitive action, the White House said on Thursday.

The progress in negotiations has been hindered by fact that Ukraine, Russia, the US and Europe are all pursuing different goals.

Here is a quick overview of the key points:

• Ukraine wants security guarantees, rejects territorial concessions and wants to keep the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant
• Russia seeks control of all of the Donbas region and opposes NATO expansion
• Europe and NATO are pushing for a fair peace and warn of the urgent threat to Europe from Russia
• The US wants the war to end soon and is increasingly frustrated with the protracted peace talks

Read here for a more in-depth look.

US President Donald Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff will meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and senior European leaders in Berlin this weekend to discuss efforts to end the war in Ukraine, the White House said on Friday.

Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner will also be in attendance.

A timeline for the planned talks has not been released. 

The talks, first reported by the Wall Street Journal, come as Washington steps up pressure on Kyiv to advance negotiations based on a US-led peace proposal.

Germany said Berlin will also host EU and NATO leaders early next week following a German-Ukrainian business forum attended by Zelenskyy and Chancellor Friedrich Merz.

Ukrainian officials have submitted an updated peace plan to Washington, while European leaders are seeking US security guarantees before Kyiv considers any territorial concessions to Russia. 

Welcome to our coverage of the latest developments from Russia's war in Ukraine.

Over this weekend, US President Donald Trump's special envoy will meet with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelenskyy and European leaders in Berlin.

This comes after White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters on Thursday that Trump is "extremely frustrated" with Russia and Ukraine as he pushes his ceasefire plan. 

Keep reading as we track developments throughout the day.