Power was restored to 270,000 consumers in Kyiv after attacks from Russia knocked it out, Ukraine’s energy minister Svitlana Hrynchuk wrote on Facebook on Friday. People in Kyiv heard blasts throughout Thursday night and many woke up without power on Friday after the huge air attack targeted Ukraine’s energy system. Images posted online showed firefighters working to tackle burning blocks of flats. Hrynchuk did not say how many people had lost power. Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said the Russian strikes targeted civilian and energy infrastructure as Ukraine prepares for winter temperatures.
Russian drones and missiles damaged 12 apartment buildings in the south-eastern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia, killing a seven-year-old boy and injuring four people, according to the regional governor. The Kyiv mayor, Vitali Klitschko, said 12 people had been injured, with eight of them taken to hospital.
Vladimir Putin rowed back his deputy foreign minister’s declaration that the “momentum” from the Alaska talks had been lost and that the “edifice of relations” between the US and Russia “has cracked and is collapsing … the cracks have reached the foundation”. Rybakov made the comments during the week after Donald Trump hardened his line towards Russia. Putin, Russia’s president, said on Friday: “These are complex issues that require further consideration. But we remain committed to the discussion that took place in Anchorage.” An aide to Putin said contacts with Washington were continuing.
“Fair use” of frozen Russian assets for Ukraine’s defence and rebuilding was discussed between the European Central Bank president, Christine Lagarde, and Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Friday. “There are solutions for how this can be done,” said Ukraine’s president, calling for more political will in Europe to do it. “We are getting closer to a decision on the assets, and I thank everyone who is helping.”
Melania Trump said on Friday that eight Ukrainian children had been reunited with their families after contact with Vladimir Putin. The US first lady in August wrote a letter to Putin and had her husband hand-deliver it during his meeting with the Russian president in Alaska. The eight children were been reunited with their families “over the past 24 hours”, the US first lady said on Friday.
