Ukraine-Russia war latest: Moscow launches massive attack on Kyiv’s energy system amid fallout over Putin general shooting – UK Times

Explosions were heard in Vinnytsia and Burshtyn areas in the Ivano-Frankivsk region amid a missile threat, according to reports.

According to the Air Force, a high-speed target was heading toward Vinnytsia, while monitoring channels suggested it could have been Zircon cruise missiles, RBC Ukraine reported.

Vinnytsia’s regional military chief Nataliia Zabolotna said the area was under a “massive” air assault, adding that a strike had hit a piece of critical infrastructure, though no casualties were reported.

A new wargame simulating a Russian incursion into Lithuania, carried out by ex-Nato and German officials, concluded that Moscow would “achieve most of its goals” within days.

The exercise envisaged a scenario where the Kremlin used bogus claims of a “humanitarian crisis” in the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad to seize the Lithuanian city of Marijampole to its east, a key conurbation through which the road linking Russia and Belarus runs.

The scenario, which plays out in October 2026, suggests that an absence of US leadership and hesitancy from Nato countries could allow Moscow to gain total control over the Baltic within days, using an initial force of only 15,000 troops.

An unidentified drone was found on the Moldovan territory near the Ukrainian border, the Moldovan authorities claimed.

Local police sealed off the area and dispatched explosives disposal specialists after the drone was found in the village of Sofia in the Drochia District, Kyiv Independent reported.

“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Moldova strongly condemns any incident that could constitute a violation of the country’s airspace and a potential threat to the safety of its citizens,” the foreign ministry said.

Moldovan police said this incident marks the third drone found in the country since the beginning of the year.

The British defence ministry has said that Ukraine’s electricity network “is experiencing its most acute crisis of the winter”.

The repeated Russian aerial assaults have in recent months focused on Ukraine’s power grid, causing blackouts and disrupting the heating and water supply for families during a bitterly cold winter.

Mykola Tromza, an 81-year-old pensioner in Kyiv, said he has had his power restored, but recently went without heating and water at home for a week.”I touched my nose and by God, it was like an icicle,” Tromza said. He said he ran up and down to keep warm.

Russia’s defence ministry said that air defenses downed 38 Ukrainian drones overnight, including 26 over the Bryansk region.

Bryansk governor Alexander Bogomaz said the attack briefly cut power to several villages in the region.

Another Ukrainian nighttime strike damaged power facilities in the Russian city of Belgorod, disrupting electricity distribution, governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said.

A top Russian military official is in a serious condition in hospital after an attempted assassination in his Moscow apartment on Friday.

An unidentified gunman fired several shots at Lieutenant General Vladimir Alexeyev, deputy head of the GRU, Russia’s military intelligence arm, before fleeing the scene, the investigators said.

It is the latest in a series of assassination attempts Russia has blamed on Ukraine.

Mr Alexeyev, 64, has previously been recognised by President Vladimir Putin with a Hero of Russia award.

Russian drones struck a dog shelter in the regional capital, killing 13 dogs, Zaporizhzhia City Council Secretary Rehina Kharchenko said.

Some dogs were rushed to a veterinary clinic yesterday, but they could not be saved, she said. Seven other animals were injured and are receiving treatment.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has described the performance of the air force in parts of the country as “unsatisfactory,” and said that steps are being taken to improve the response to large-scale Russian drone barrages of civilian areas.

The repeated Russian aerial assaults have in recent months focused on Ukraine’s power grid, causing blackouts and disrupting the heating and water supply for families during a bitterly cold winter.

With the war about to enter its fifth year later this month following Russia’s all-out invasion of its neighbour, there is no sign of a breakthrough in US-led peace efforts following the latest talks this week.

Further US-brokered meetings between Russian and Ukrainian delegations are planned “in the near future, likely in the United States,” Zelensky said.

Zelensky said yesterday he had discussed with his defense minister and the air force commander what new air defense measures Ukraine needs to counter the Russian barrages. He didn’t elaborate on what would be done.

US president Donald Trump said “very good talks” were ongoing regarding Russia’s war in Ukraine and he added, without elaborating, that “something could be happening” as a result of the negotiations.

“Very, very good talks today, having to do with Russia-Ukraine. Something could be happening,” Trump told reporters.

The Republican leader had vowed to end the war that began with full-scale Russian invasionof Ukraine in February 2022 but more than a year into his second term, Trump’s promise has remained unfulfilled.