Ukraine yesterday accused Russia of undermining negotiations to end their almost four-year war by launching fresh deadly strikes, as officials from both countries and the United States met for a second day of direct talks in Abu Dhabi.

Ukrainian negotiators have arrived in the United States for talks with the Trump administration on ending almost four years of war with Russia, a member of the delegation said yesterday.

Ukraine has fuel reserves for more than 20 days, Energy Minister Denys Shmyhal told parliament yesterday, describing the overall energy situation in the country as very difficult following a series of Russian drone and missile attacks on power infrastructure.

The governor of Russia’s Belgorod region, which borders Ukraine, said on Saturday that 600,000 residents were without electricity, heating and water after a Ukrainian missile strike.

Russia fired a powerful hypersonic missile at Ukraine near the EU border overnight, in what Kyiv called a new threat to European security that demanded a global response.

Ukraine is hosting security advisers for crunch talks yesterday as Kyiv insists negotiations are zeroing in on a deal, while Russia claims a deadly New Year strike torpedoed the efforts.

The Ukrainian army said yesterday it only hit “military targets”, a day after Russia accused Kyiv of firing drones at a hotel and cafe in Ukraine’s occupied south, killing 27 people.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Ukraine was in no hurry for peace and if it did not want to resolve their conflict peacefully, Moscow would accomplish all its goals by force.

Russia claimed on Saturday to have captured two more towns in eastern Ukraine, Myrnograd and Guliaipole, a day ahead of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's meeting with US President Donald Trump

Russia pummelled Ukraine’s capital Kyiv with drones and missiles yesterday, killing one woman and knocking out power to hundreds of thousands, ahead of President Volodymyr Zelensky’s latest talks with US leader Donald Trump.

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s foreign policy aide spoke to members of the US administration after Moscow received US proposals about a possible Ukrainian peace deal, the Kremlin said yesterday.

Ukraine won some concessions in the latest version of a US-led draft plan to end the Russian invasion, revealed by President Volodymyr Zelensky, though key questions remain over territory and whether Moscow could accept the new terms.

The Kremlin yesterday denied that three-way talks between Ukraine, Russia and the United States were on the cards, as diplomats gathered in Miami for talks on ending the conflict.

US intelligence reports continue to warn that Russian President Vladimir Putin intends to capture all of Ukraine and reclaim parts of Europe that belonged to the former Soviet empire,

President Vladimir Putin offered no compromise on his terms for ending the war in Ukraine yesterday and accused the European Union of attempting “daylight robbery” of Russian assets.

Ukraine’s military hit the Afipsky oil refinery in Russia’s Krasnodar region and an oil depot in the Russian Volgograd region, the Ukrainian General Staff said yesterday.

Ukraine would join the European Union as early as January 2027 under the latest US plan to end the war with Russia, a senior source familiar with the matter told AFP yesterday.

Ukrainian aerial drones struck a Russian oil platform in the Caspian Sea for the first time yesterday, halting production at the facility owned by Lukoil, according to an official from Ukraine’s Security Service.

A large-scale Russian drone and missile attack damaged power facilities in eight Ukrainian regions, causing blackouts and forcing nuclear power plants to cut power output, officials and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said yesterday.

A Ukrainian drone attack caused a fire at Russia’s Azov Sea port of Temryuk, the local emergencies centre said yesterday.