dpa
Kiev
Air alerts sounded over many parts of Ukraine in the early hours of Saturday as Russia launched fresh attacks with drones, glide bombs and cruise missiles.
Around 15 regions were affected, including Mykolaiv in the south and Dnipropetrovsk in the centre of the country, Ukraine’s air defence service wrote on Telegram.
According to the authorities, eight people were injured in an attack using drones and glide bombs in the eastern region of Sumy, which is close to the front. Authorities had previously reported seven wounded.
Parts of the energy infrastructure, which has been repeatedly attacked by Russia, were also destroyed.
A woman was also killed in the Cherkasy region in central Ukraine, according to the authorities.
The authorities called on people to take cover in air raid shelters.
During the night, the capital Kiev also declared an air raid alert.
According to Mayor Vitali Klitschko, one woman was injured when debris of a drone that was shot down crashed through a window into her flat. The woman was taken to hospital for surgery.
Air defence authorities in Kiev said that all enemy drones around the capital had been destroyed.
Meanwhile on Friday, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky called for "joint pressure on Russia” in a post on X, after attending a NATO defence ministers’ meeting in Brussels the previous day.
"We must act decisively and in unity to prevent Putin from gaining strength and further fuelling the war,” Zelensky wrote on X.
He added: "Only through joint pressure on Russia, using all available means and tools, can we achieve our goal of a real and just peace as quickly as possible.” Zelensky requested further supplies of weapons and equipment, as well as "long-range capabilities” to hit targets within Russia and financial aid agreements to strengthen the Ukrainian defence industry.
Ukraine has been fending off a full-scale Russian invasion for more than two and a half years.
Putin accuses Ukraine of blocking peace talks Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday accused Ukraine of being unwilling to negotiate, charging that the Ukrainian president repeatedly makes demands but offers no proposals - and had even signed a decree banning negotiations with Russia.
By contrast, Putin said, Russia was willing to hold peace talks, as he claimed it had been at the beginning of the war.
In response to a question during a press conference, the Russian president said he was open to Saudi Arabia hosting such negotiations but emphasized that the content was important.
He said Russia was ready for new talks on the basis of the agreements already reached with Ukrainian representatives in Istanbul after the start of the war.
Zelensky nuclear comments come under fire Putin meanwhile described apparent hints by the Ukrainian leadership regarding the possible production of nuclear weapons as a "dangerous provocation,” although Zelensky later reiterated his country was not interested in having nuclear weapons.
He said any step in this direction would "provoke an appropriate response.” Putin made these remarks during a conversation with journalists from the so-called BRICS countries in Moscow.
While acknowledging that it is not difficult to produce nuclear weapons in the modern world, he expressed doubt about Ukraine’s capabilities to do so. He said, "I don’t know if Ukraine is currently capable of this. For Ukraine today, it is not so simple, but generally speaking, there aren’t major difficulties here.”
Putin was publicly responding for the first time to statements by Zelensky, who had reaffirmed his demand for a swift invitation to join NATO on the sidelines of the EU summit in Brussels, apparently stating that otherwise his country would be left with no option but nuclear rearmament in order to defend itself against Russia.
However, Zelenksy appeared to row back, stating later during a press conference in Brussels alongside NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, "We don’t do nuclear weapons.” Ukraine relinquished the Soviet nuclear weapons stationed on its territory in 1994. The nuclear powers had promised security to the country at the time but this had not worked, Zelensky said on Thursday.
Russia returns remains of hundreds of soldiers to Ukraine Russia has returned the remains of 501 dead soldiers to Ukraine, officials in Kiev said on Friday.
According to the authority coordinating the handover, 382 of the soldiers were killed in the Avdiivka region in eastern Ukraine alone.
The others died in the Donetsk regions near Bakhmut and Maryinka or in the Luhansk region.
According to the coordination staff, the International Red Cross and several Ukrainian institutions were involved in the return of the soldiers’ remains.
After experts have identified the bodies, the remains will be handed over to Ukrainian families for burial, they said.
No information has been provided about the return of killed Russian soldiers.
Meahwhile the Russian and Ukrainian armed forces exchanged prisoners of war again.
According to the TASS news agency, the Russian defence ministry in Moscow said Friday that Russia and Ukraine each handed over 95 prisoners to the opposing side.
Russia and Ukraine last handed over 103 prisoners of war in early September. The exchange that has now taken place was brokered by the United Arab Emirates. Ukraine has been fighting to repel a full-scale Russian invasion for almost 1,000 days. The country is demanding more air defence systems from its Western allies to better protect its cities from the constant aerial attacks.