BY EMMANUEL OGBONNA
A Ukrainian drone strike in southwestern Russia killed two people on Saturday, Russian officials said, while large parts of Ukraine were plunged into darkness after overnight Russian attacks on energy infrastructure, highlighting the intensity of the war just hours before a new round of peace discussions was set to resume in Germany.
The violence came as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced that Ukrainian, U.S. and European officials would convene in Berlin in the coming days for what he described as critical talks aimed at laying the groundwork for a political agreement to end the war. Zelenskyy said he would personally meet with envoys of U.S. President Donald Trump, as Washington intensifies efforts to broker a settlement nearly three years into the conflict.
“Most importantly, I will be meeting with envoys of President Trump, and there will also be meetings with our European partners, with many leaders, concerning the foundation of peace — a political agreement to end the war,” Zelenskyy said in his nightly address to the nation.
According to a White House official speaking on condition of anonymity, Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and the president’s son-in-law Jared Kushner are traveling to Berlin to take part in the talks. The meetings are expected to include senior European officials as the United States presses for momentum after months of painstaking diplomacy that has yielded few tangible results.
American officials have been attempting to navigate sharply conflicting demands from Kyiv and Moscow, as Trump pushes for a swift end to the war and has expressed growing frustration with delays. One of the most intractable issues remains the future of Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region, most of which is occupied by Russian forces, while some strategically important areas remain under Ukrainian control.
Zelenskyy acknowledged the stakes of the moment, describing the coming days as potentially decisive for the country’s future. “The chance is considerable at this moment, and it matters for our every city, for our every Ukrainian community,” he said. “We are working to ensure that peace for Ukraine is dignified, and to secure a guarantee — above all, a guarantee that Russia will not return to Ukraine for a third invasion.”
On the battlefield, fighting and long-range strikes continued unabated. In Russia’s Saratov region, Governor Roman Busargin said a Ukrainian drone attack damaged a residential building, killing two people. Windows were blown out at a nearby kindergarten and medical clinic, underscoring the growing reach of Ukrainian strikes deep into Russian territory. Russia’s Defense Ministry said its air defenses shot down 41 Ukrainian drones overnight across several regions.
In Ukraine, Russian forces launched a large-scale overnight assault involving drones and missiles across five regions, striking energy facilities and port infrastructure. Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said more than one million people were left without electricity as a result of the attacks, adding to the strain on an already battered power grid.
Zelenskyy said Russia fired more than 450 drones and around 30 missiles during the overnight barrage. In the southern port city of Odesa, grain silos caught fire after a strike on port facilities, according to Deputy Prime Minister and Reconstruction Minister Oleksiy Kuleba. Regional officials said two civilians were wounded in attacks across the wider Odesa region.
Kyiv and its Western allies accuse Moscow of deliberately targeting Ukraine’s energy system in an effort to break civilian morale and deprive millions of heat, light and running water during the winter months. Ukrainian officials have repeatedly described the strategy as the “weaponization” of cold weather, warning that the country is facing a fourth consecutive winter of energy insecurity since Russia launched its full-scale invasion.
Along the front lines, Ukrainian military officials said Saturday that Ukrainian forces remain in control of the northern part of the strategically important city of Pokrovsk, despite Russian claims earlier this month that the city had fallen entirely under Moscow’s control. Independent verification of the competing claims has not been possible, but Pokrovsk has emerged as a focal point of intense fighting in recent weeks.
The latest wave of attacks followed comments by Kremlin foreign affairs adviser Yuri Ushakov, who reiterated that Moscow would agree to a ceasefire only if Ukrainian forces withdraw from parts of the Donetsk region they still control. Ukraine has consistently rejected any demand to surrender remaining territory in the region, calling such conditions unacceptable.
Ushakov also said that Russian police and National Guard units would remain in parts of eastern Ukraine’s Donbas even if the area were designated a demilitarized zone under a future peace plan — a position that is widely expected to be rejected by Kyiv and its allies. He warned that negotiations could drag on, arguing that U.S. proposals that had taken Russian demands into account were later altered by Ukraine and European partners.
“We don’t know what changes they are making, but clearly they aren’t for the better,” Ushakov said in an interview with a Russian business newspaper. “We will strongly insist on our considerations.”
Away from the front lines, security concerns linked to the war rippled across neighboring countries. In Poland, around 480 passengers were evacuated Saturday from a train traveling between the southeastern city of Przemysl and Kyiv after police received a call warning of a potential threat. No one was injured, and authorities did not disclose details of the warning.
Polish officials remain on high alert following several attempts in recent months to disrupt rail traffic on the key route linking Warsaw with the Ukrainian border. Those incidents, including the use of explosives in November, have heightened concerns about sabotage, with Polish authorities saying they have evidence pointing to Russian involvement.
As diplomats prepare to gather in Berlin, the renewed violence has cast a stark light on the challenge facing negotiators: attempting to chart a path to peace while the war continues to claim lives, devastate infrastructure and deepen mistrust on all sides.
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