Russia–Ukraine Conflict: Major Developments on Day 1,431
Clashes
Russia carried out another large-scale overnight assault on Ukraine on Saturday, leaving at least one person dead and four others injured in Kyiv, while widespread strikes cut electricity to about 1.2 million properties across the country, officials said.
Kyiv’s military administration confirmed damage in at least four districts of the capital, including a medical facility. Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko said the attacks also hit four regions in northern and eastern Ukraine. Mayor Vitali Klitschko reported that the northeastern Troyeshchyna district was among the hardest hit, with around 600 buildings left without electricity, water, or heating.
According to Ukraine’s Air Force, Russia launched 375 drones and 21 missiles, including two rarely used Tsirkon ballistic missiles. In Kharkiv, the country’s second-largest city, at least 30 people, including a child, were wounded. Mayor Ihor Terekhov said 25 drones struck multiple districts, damaging a dormitory housing displaced people and two medical facilities, one of them a maternity hospital.
Energy Minister Denys Shmyhal said late Saturday that power outages continued to affect more than 800,000 households in Kyiv and another 400,000 in the northern Chernihiv region. Deputy Prime Minister Oleksii Kuleba added that over 3,200 buildings in the capital were still without heating by late evening, down from 6,000 earlier in the day, as temperatures fell to around minus 10 degrees Celsius.
Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha condemned the strikes as “barbaric,” accusing President Vladimir Putin of acting cynically by ordering the attack during US-led trilateral talks in the United Arab Emirates.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian forces carried out what Russian officials described as a “massive” strike on the Belgorod border region, damaging energy infrastructure but causing no reported casualties. Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said it was the heaviest shelling of the town of Belgorod, with drone debris sparking a fire in a residential courtyard and explosions heard for an extended period.
Russia’s Ministry of Defence claimed its troops had taken control of the village of Starytsya in Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv region near the Russian border. Ukraine’s military said Russian forces launched six attacks in the area but did not confirm the village had been captured.
Diplomatic Developments
Ukraine and Russia wrapped up a second day of US-mediated negotiations in Abu Dhabi without reaching a peace agreement, with further talks expected next weekend, as Russia continued large-scale strikes across Ukraine.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on X that the talks centered on “possible parameters for ending the war,” but offered no indication that a breakthrough was imminent. A US official briefed reporters after the meeting, saying discussions would resume next Sunday in Abu Dhabi. Speaking on condition of anonymity, the official noted a constructive tone, with negotiators showing “a lot of respect” and a willingness to seek solutions.
The US official added that Washington hopes the process could expand beyond Abu Dhabi, potentially leading to talks in Moscow or Kyiv. He said a future step could involve direct talks between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Zelenskyy, or a trilateral meeting that would include US President Donald Trump.
A UAE government spokesperson told Reuters that Ukrainian and Russian delegations engaged face-to-face in Abu Dhabi — a rare occurrence in the nearly four-year conflict sparked by Russia’s full-scale invasion — and addressed unresolved aspects of Trump’s proposed peace framework. Russia’s Foreign Ministry also signaled openness to further negotiations, including possible talks in Istanbul after the Abu Dhabi meetings, according to the state-run RIA news agency
