Ukraine-Russia war latest: Kyiv says ‘massive’ attack underway with power outages across capital – UK Times

Russian president Vladimir Putin arrived in Tajikistan yesterday to attend meetings with leaders of other ex-Soviet republics likely to focus on regional development and their relations with Moscow.

India is now believed to be the biggest supplier of fuel additives used to enhance the capabilities of Russian fighter jets, according to a new report.

More than half a dozen Indian companies – suppliers and manufacturers based in Delhi and Mumbai – were found to have supplied nearly half of the total of Russia’s imported fuel additives in 2024, a Kyiv-based think tank has found.

Vladimir Putin is “personally afraid” of a ceasefire in the war in Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky has said.

“The head of Russia is personally afraid of a ceasefire, because once a ceasefire is in place, returning to the war would be difficult for him. To move from full-scale war to a ceasefire and then later restart a full-scale war – that’s not easy for them,” Zelensky said on X today.

“It’s not easy economically, it’s not easy with the society, and it’s not easy with the world. And certainly not easy with those countries that are still shaking Putin’s hand today. That’s why, for now, he chooses war,” he said.

Zelensky said Ukraine’s long-range strikes, strong sanctions, holding the battlefield, defending itself in the conflict at the moment but “also, undoubtedly, supporting peaceful initiatives, because that’s the right thing to do – this will work”.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said Kyiv will nominate Donald Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize if he sends Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine and helps negotiate a ceasefire with Russia.

Speaking on Thursday to reporters about his recent meeting with Trump at the UN General Assembly last month, Zelensky said: “I didn’t hear a ‘no’. What I did hear was that work will continue at the technical level and that this possibility will be considered.”

He added: “The plan for ending the war won’t be easy, but it is certainly the way forward. And if Trump gives the world – above all, the Ukrainian people – the chance for such a ceasefire, then yes, he should be nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.

“We will nominate him on behalf of Ukraine.”

A Russian drone attack struck an oil depot in Ukraine’s Chernihiv region on Wednesday morning (October 8), local governor Vyacheslav Chaus said in a statement posted on Facebook.

Footage released on Wednesday (8 October) shows a huge fireball and pillars of black smoke rising into the air as emergency service workers try to tackle the blaze using foam.

Following the attacks, the National Energy Company of Ukraine said that several regions of Ukraine have been left without power.

“The situation is most difficult in the Chernihiv region, where the local power company is forced to implement three simultaneous hourly power cuts. Emergency repair work is ongoing,” the statement said.

The 63rd Mechanised Brigade of the Ukrainian Army posted a video on Telegram showing a man calling himself Majoti Sahil Mohamed Hussein in its custody. The man claims to be a 22-year-old from Morbi in the western state of Gujarat.

The United States has imposed sanctions on Serbia’s Russian-owned oil company NIS NIIS.BEL.

The move prompted neighbouring Croatia to cut crude supplies, which has led to concerns that the country’s sole oil refinery could stop operations in weeks.

“These are extremely severe consequences for our entire country. It’s not just about the functioning of one company,” said Serbia’s president Aleksandr Vucic in a televised address.