Russian strikes injured at least 15 people in Ukraine’s capital and the north-eastern city of Kharkiv overnight, authorities said early on Saturday. The country was under an air raid alert with military authorities in the capital warning of the threat of drones and ballistic missiles. “Kyiv is under a massive enemy attack. Do not leave shelters!” the city’s mayor, Vitali Klitschko, said on Telegram. “Four wounded in the capital. Three of them were hospitalised,” he said. The mayor of Kharkiv reported an attack by Iranian-made Shahed drones that wounded more than 11 people and damaged several residential buildings in two districts of the city near the Russian border.
Ukraine’s energy situation “significantly” worsened on Friday after recent Russian air attacks, triggering emergency power outages in most regions, Kyiv’s grid operator said. Moscow has increased airstrikes in recent weeks, further damaging battered infrastructure and leaving large numbers of residents without power and heating during a subzero cold snap. CEO of Ukraine’s top private energy firm, Maxim Timchenko, said the situation was “close to a humanitarian catastrophe” and that any peace deal between Russia and Ukraine must include a halt to attacks on energy infrastructure.
Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni said on Friday she hoped Donald Trump would end the conflict in Ukraine so she could nominate him for the Nobel peace prize. “I trust that if he makes a difference … in achieving a just and lasting peace for Ukraine, for Ukraine too … finally, we too could nominate Donald Trump for the Nobel peace prize,” she told a press conference. Italy has been invited to join Trump’s “board of peace” however, Italy’s constitutional rules do not allow the country to join an organisation led by a single foreign leader, according to media reports.
Russia has begun using a new model of high-speed drone against Ukraine amid claims by Kyiv’s military intelligence directorate that key parts are sourced from western and Chinese companies. Wreckage recovered from a so-called Geran-5 long-range attack drone that was fired at Ukraine in early January points to a series of new capabilities that experts believe could pose a serious threat to Ukraine’s already struggling air defence if deployed widely. The increasing speed of Russian attack drones has been cited by members of Ukraine’s small-fire mobile air defence teams as an increasing challenge as the window of time to shoot them down gets smaller.
Russia “deliberately” wants to deprive Ukrainians of energy to break their spirit, but “will fail”, according to EU commissioner for preparedness and crisis management Hadja Lahbib. The European Commission is deploying 447 emergency generators from EU reserves to Ukraine. “The EU will not let Russia freeze Ukraine into submission and will continue helping Ukrainians get through this winter,” said Lahbib.