Ukraine-Russia war live: Kyiv faces power outage after ‘one of the largest’ Russian attacks on energy facilities

Russia said it continues to advance in house-by-house fighting in the strategic town of Pokrovsk where the battle with Ukraine has intensified in recent days.

The tiny village of Vovche in eastern Ukraine was captured on Saturday, according to the defence ministry’s Telegram account. Its inhabitants are said to be 13 people, according to census data from 2001.

Russia’s foreign minister Sergei Lavrov has said he is ready to meet with US secretary of state Marco Rubio, reviving hopes of diplomatic talks on Ukraine.

“Secretary of State Marco Rubio and I understand the need for regular communication,” Lavrov said in an interview with RIA Novosti.

“It is important for discussing the Ukrainian issue and promoting the bilateral agenda. That is why we communicate by telephone and are ready to hold face-to-face meetings when necessary.”

A highly-anticipated meeting between President Donald Trump and President Vladimir Putin was stalled after Lavrov was said to have taken a hardline stance during a call with Rubio last month. Trump said he did not want to “waste time”.

Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said on Saturday that work is under way on Vladimir Putin’s order to prepare proposals for a possible Russian nuclear test, state news agency Tass reported.

According to Tass, Lavrov said: “Regarding President Vladimir Putin’s instruction at the Security Council meeting on November 5, it has been accepted for implementation and is being worked on. The public will be informed of the results.”

The order was in response to Donald Trump’s surprise announcement last week that the US would resume testing.

Lavrov said Russia had received no clarification from the US regarding Trump’s order.

Russia-US relations have deteriorated sharply in the past few weeks as Trump, frustrated with a lack of progress towards ending the war in Ukraine, has cancelled a planned summit with Putin and imposed sanctions on Russia for the first time since returning to the White House in January.

This is the moment an 11-year-old girl bravely confronts Vladimir Putin about her uncle injured in the war with Ukraine.

The child approached Putin at Russia’s Unity Day service on Tuesday (4 November), telling him how her uncle suffered an injury to the arm that went untreated in hospital before being sent back to fight.

She said “My uncle is currently at the front, he was wounded in the arm. He was in the hospital, they weren’t treating him, and now they’re sending him on a mission, and I would like him to be transferred to a good hospital in Russia.”

Putin replies: “We’ll find him, ok?”

An overnight drone attack by Ukraine temporarily disrupted power and heating supplies in the southwestern Russia city of Voronezh, a regional governor has said.

The attack on Voronezh, the administrative centre of the wider Voronezh region, caused no injuries, governor Alexander Gusev said on the Telegram messaging app.

Several drones were suppressed by electronic warfare systems, sparking a fire at a utility facility that was quickly extinguished, he added.

Safety measures led to brief changes in central heating temperatures in some homes and to short power cuts in parts of the city, but supplies later returned to normal, Mr Gusev said.

The battle for Pokrovsk in Ukraine’s Donetsk region has reached a pivotal stage, with Russian and Ukrainian forces locked in intense combat, even vying for control of individual residential buildings, according to soldiers and analysts.

This fierce fighting on the ground also underpins a crucial diplomatic struggle, as both Moscow and Kyiv seek to persuade U.S. President Donald Trump of their military advantage and the opposing side’s weakness.

Russia asserts its forces have encircled Pokrovsk and successfully thwarted Ukrainian attempts to re-establish supply lines. However, Ukraine refutes claims of a blockade, stating that fighting continues and its forces are inflicting significant casualties on the Russians.

State-owned energy company Tsentrenergo said the attacks were the largest on its facilities since the start of the war in February 2022, and that it had halted operations at its plants in the Kyiv and Kharkiv regions.

“The last strike was not even a month ago and the enemy has now struck all our generating capacity at the same time. The stations are on fire!” Tsentrenergo, which generates about 8 per cent of Ukraine’s power, said in a statement.

“Our generation is now zero.”

Ukraine’s General Staff of Ukraine’s Armed Forces has reported that Russia has lost around 1,150,100 troops in Ukraine since the beginning of its full-scale invasion in February 2022, in new figures released on Saturday.

According to the report, Russia has lost 11,330 tanks, 23,544 armoured fighting vehicles and fuel tanks and 34,321 artillery systems during the conflict.

The figures include the loss of 1,538 multiple launch rocket systems, 1,239 air defense systems, 428 airplanes, 347 helicopters, 78,928 drones, 28 ships and boats, and one submarine.

Energy Minister Svitlana Hrynchuk said emergency crews had stabilised the power grid, but warned consumers that further power cuts were needed to allow work to proceed after the attacks.

“We are assessing the aftermath and coordinating what actions to take in order to find alternative power sources to ensure people get their power and heating back,” Ms Hrynchuk said on national television.

News reports and unofficial social media accounts said blackouts persisted in at least two regions – Kharkiv in the northeast and Poltava in central Ukraine.

The case carries symbolic importance for the country, with suspects accused of executing Ukrainian soldiers usually out of its jurisdiction.

Criminal investigations are underway into the alleged murder of 322 Ukrainian servicemen who had unconditionally laid down their arms and/or surrendered since Russia invaded the country in February 2022, according to the Ukrainian prosecutor general’s office.

The UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission said in February that there had been an “alarming rise” in reported executions of Ukrainian soldiers captured by Russia.

It is illegal under international humanitarian law to execute prisoners of war and the wounded, and such actions are regarded as war crimes.