One dead and at least 15 injured in Russian strikes, as talks continue between Ukraine, Russia and the US in Abu Dhabi. What we know on day 1,431
Russia sent a delegation led by GRU military intelligence chief, Adm Igor Kostyukov, to day one of the peace talks between Ukraine, Russia and the US, in Abu Dhabi on Friday, indicating a focus on military rather than political negotiations. It has also repeated its demand that Ukraine leave Donbas before the talks start. The talks will resume on Saturday. The talks are the highest-level known summit between the three countries since the beginning of the war, and come as Ukraine faces a harsh winter with much of its civilian energy infrastructure damaged by Russia.
The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said the three sides were meeting at “negotiator level” – in a format for the first time “in a long time”. The talks come after a seventh meeting between Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, and Vladimir Putin in Moscow, where the main topics of discussion were Russia’s demands for territory and Ukraine’s security guarantees. Witkoff was accompanied in Moscow by Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, and Josh Gruenbaum, the commissioner of the Federal Acquisition Service.
Russian strikes killed one and injured at least 15 people in Kyiv and the north-eastern city of Kharkiv overnight . Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko said one person was killed in the capital and four injured, including three being treated in hospital. Klitschko said the strikes had triggered fires in districts on either side of the Dnipro River, which bisects the capital. He said heating and water supplies had been disrupted in parts of the city east of the river. Ukraine’s air force said both drones and missiles had been deployed in the assault on the capital. Tymur Tkachenko, head of Kyiv’s military administration, reported strikes in at least four districts. A medical facility was among the buildings damaged. 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.
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