The US wants Russia and Ukraine to find a solution on how to end the war, the largest since the second World War, before summer, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy said.
In remarks to reporters released by his office on Saturday, Zelenskiy said Washington had proposed a new round of talks between Kyiv and Moscow to take place in Miami in a week and Kyiv had agreed to that.
“The Americans are proposing that the parties end the war before the start of this summer, and will likely pressure the parties to adhere to this schedule,” Zelenskiy said. “The [mid-term congressional] elections are definitely more important to them. Let’s not be naive. And they say they want to get everything done by June.”
Ukraine and Russia concluded two days of US-brokered peace talks in Abu Dhabi this week without a major breakthrough but the two sides agreed to exchange 157 prisoners of war each, resuming such swaps after a five-month pause. Zelenskiy said that the POW swap would continue.
The military teams discussed in detail technical aspects on how to monitor a potential ceasefire, Zelenskiy said. Security guarantees for Ukraine and agreements on economic cooperation, referred to by officials as “the prosperity plan” that outlined Ukraine’s postwar recovery, were also discussed.
Zelenskiy said he had reports from his intelligence services on discussions in which Russia’s special envoy Kirill Dmitriev proposed co-operation deals between Russia and the United States worth as much as $12 trillion (€10 trillion). He said that any such bilateral agreements between Russia and the United States could not violate the Ukrainian constitution.
Air attack
Meanwhile, Ukrainian drones struck a plant that makes missile fuel components in the Tver region of western Russia, an official from Ukraine’s SBU security service said on Saturday.
The official said that components for missile fuel for Russia’s X-55 and X-101 cruise missiles and other elements for diesel and aviation fuel were produced there. The drone strike caused a large fire at the plant, the official said.
Russia launched a massive air attack on Ukrainian energy facilities overnight on Saturday, targeting electricity generation and distribution, Kyiv said. Zelenskiy said the overnight attack involved more than 400 drones and some 40 missiles of various types, targeting the grid, generation facilities and distribution substations.
Nearly four years into the war that began with Russia’s full-scale invasion of its neighbour, Ukraine’s battered energy sector is crumbling under the Russian strikes, accumulated wartime damage and bitterly cold winter weather.
“Every day, Russia could choose real diplomacy, but it chooses new strikes,” Zelenskiy posted on X. “It is crucial that everyone who supports the trilateral negotiations respond to this. Moscow must be deprived of the ability to use the cold as leverage against Ukraine.”
Moscow did not immediately comment on the attacks.
Energy minister Denys Shmyhal said the strikes hit two thermal power stations in the country’s western regions and core elements of the Ukrainian electricity distribution system – substations and key electricity distribution lines.
“Russian criminals carried out another massive attack on Ukraine’s energy facilities,” Shmyhal said on the Telegram app. “Energy workers are ready to start repair works as soon as the security situation allows.”
The strikes were launched as temperatures began to drop and are forecast to fall to minus 14 degrees in the coming days.
The new Russian attacks on the energy system also come just days after the latest round of the US-brokered talks between Ukraine and Russia on how to end the war.
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Despite pressure from US president Donald Trump’s administration and rounds of talks, diplomatic efforts have so far brought no tangible results.
Since autumn 2025, Moscow has intensified its attacks on the Ukrainian power grid and other energy infrastructure, forcing frequent blackouts across Ukraine and plunging millions into darkness for hours.
Ukrainian officials said that emergency power cuts were introduced across the country. Shmyhal said the government asked Poland for emergency power imports to help the Ukrainian grid.
Regional officials reported attacks across the country, including in the western regions of Khmelnytskyi, Rivne, Ternopil, Ivano-Frankivsk and Lviv.
The Burshtyn and Dobrotvir thermal power plants in western Ukraine were hit, officials said.
DTEK, Ukraine’s largest private energy company, said that equipment was damaged significantly at its thermal power plants in different regions. DTEK said it was the 10th attack on its thermal power stations since October 2025.
“Since Russians have been targeting energy facilities in various regions of our country, power outages may last much longer,” said Maksym Kozytskyi, the Lviv regional governor.
He said air alerts lasted more than six hours in the western Lviv region, close to the Polish border.
Polish authorities said two airports in southeastern Poland were suspended from operations as a precaution due to Russian strikes on nearby Ukrainian territory. The airports in Poland later resumed operations. – Reuters