Putin warns European superpowers that their defeat will be swift if they start a war

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy yesterday said that a delegation headed by security council secretary Rustem Umerov was on its way to the United States to continue talks on an agreement to end Russia’s war.

Russia rained missiles and drones overnight on Kyiv, killing six people, authorities said yesterday, as three people died in Russia’s Rostov region in massive Ukrainian strikes.

The United States and Ukraine pressed on with talks in Switzerland yesterday to come up with a mutually acceptable peace plan, after agreeing to modify a US proposal that Kyiv and its European allies saw as a Kremlin wish list.

Ukraine struck a heat and power station in the Moscow region yesterday with drones, triggering a major fire and cutting off heating for thousands in one of Kyiv’s biggest attacks to date on a power station deep inside Russia.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky yesterday ordered an audit of the war-torn country’s large defence industry, after a sweeping corruption probe uncovered graft in the battered energy sector.

Ukraine and its European allies yesterday scrambled to come up with counter-proposals after US President Donald Trump gave Kyiv a tight deadline to approve a deal to end the war that accepts some of Russia’s hardline demands.

The Kremlin yesterday warned Ukraine’s leader Volodymyr Zelensky to enter negotiations “now” or lose more territory after the US sent Kyiv a peace proposal heeding to many of Moscow’s demands.

Ukraine said yesterday it had received from Russia the remains of 1,000 people that Moscow said were killed Ukrainian soldiers, in the latest repatriation between the two sides.

European countries yesterday pushed back against a US-backed peace plan for Ukraine that sources said would require Kyiv to give up more land and partially disarm, conditions long seen by Ukraine’s allies as tantamount to capitulation.

Russia pummelled Ukrainian cities with missiles and drones overnight, killing at least 25 people and throwing doubt over Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s attempts to “reinvigorate” the peace process with talks in Ankara later yesterday.

Russia launched a massive drone and missile attack on Kyiv early yesterday, killing eight people and wounding dozens in strikes on energy facilities, apartment buildings and infrastructure, Ukrainian officials said.

Ukrainian strikes on energy infrastructure have left more than 20,000 people without power in several Russian border regions, local authorities said yesterday.

A Russian attack hit Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, killing two people and prompting power cuts in several regions, Ukrainian authorities said yesterday.

A Ukrainian drone attack damaged at least two foreign vessels and the oil terminal infrastructure at Russia’s key Black Sea port of Tuapse yesterday, as Kyiv tries to undermine Russia’s war effort by targeting its energy infrastructure.

Russia fired more missiles at Ukraine in October than in any month since at least the start of 2023 as it pounded the country’s energy grid in night-time attacks, an AFP analysis of Ukrainian data showed.

The governor of Russia’s Belgorod region said yesterday that Ukraine had struck a dam on a local reservoir, causing damage.

Britain yesterday urged fellow allies of Ukraine to reach a deal to use frozen Russian assets to strengthen its hand for any future peace talks, as President Volodymyr Zelensky arrived in London for talks with those allies.

Russia and Ukraine pounded each other with heavy overnight missile attacks as diplomatic efforts to end the war faltered, with the White House saying there were no imminent plans for presidents Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin to meet.

Russian strikes caused widespread blackouts and cut off phone networks in the northern Ukrainian city of Chernigiv, with repairs stalled by ongoing drone attacks yesterday.