Russia’s surge in missile strikes in Ukraine is partly designed to exhaust Kyiv’s supplies of air defenses and finally achieve dominance of the skies above the country, a senior Pentagon official said yesterday.

Millions of Ukrainians in more than a dozen provinces are experiencing severe power disruptions as temperatures plunge and almost half of the country’s energy infrastructure is in need of repair after weeks of Russian attacks, officials in Kyiv said.

More than 10 million Ukrainians are without electricity after dozens of Russian air attacks on the country’s energy infrastructure as winter sets in and temperatures plummet, President Volodymyr Zelensky has said.

Poland will not grant a Russian delegation visas to attend an Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) meeting in Lodz on December 1-2, a foreign ministry spokesman said on Friday.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said yesterday that neither the United States nor Russia planned to use nuclear weapons, following a meeting of their respective spy chiefs in Turkey.

An agreement allowing Ukraine to export grain through the Black Sea and aimed at relieving global food insecurity has been extended for 120 days, officials said yesterday, as Russia pounded Ukrainian energy facilities in a new wave of missile strikes.

The Group of 20 nations unanimously adopted a declaration saying most members condemned the war in Ukraine, but the document concluding their summit acknowledged some countries saw the conflict differently.

Poland yesterday said a deadly blast that killed two people in a village near the border with Ukraine was likely caused by a stray Ukrainian air defence missile launched against a Russian barrage.

Two people died in an explosion in Przewodow, a village in eastern Poland near the border with Ukraine, firefighters said on Tuesday.

Russia faced mounting diplomatic pressure yesterday to end its war in Ukraine, as G20 allies and critics alike rued the painful global impact of nearly nine months of conflict.

Bangladesh abstained from voting in the UN General Assembly that adopted a resolution calling for Russia to be held accountable for violating international law by invading Ukraine.

Two residential buildings in the Ukraine capital were hit by missiles on Tuesday, the mayor of Kyiv said, following reports that air raid sirens were sounding in all regions of the Ukraine.

Now is the time to end Russia's “destructive” war and “save thousands of lives”, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told the G20 summit in Bali via video address on Tuesday.

Ukraine faces difficult months ahead and Russia’s military capability should not be underestimated, Nato secretary general Jens Stoltenberg said yesterday, as President Volodymyr Zelensky visited the newly recaptured southern city of Kherson.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Sunday accused Russian soldiers of committing war crimes and killing civilians in Kherson, parts of which were retaken by Ukraine's army last week after Russia pulled out.

Russian forces destroyed key infrastructure in Ukraine’s southern city of Kherson before fleeing, President Volodymyr Zelensky said, as his counterparts in Russia and Iran vowed to deepen economic, political and trade ties.

Kyiv said yesterday that the West was on its way to “joint victory” over Moscow after Ukraine said it had wrested back Kherson, the first major urban hub to fall after Russia’s invasion on February 24.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday said the southern city of Kherson was "ours" after Russia announced its withdrawal was complete.

Ukraine said yesterday its forces were entering the southern city of Kherson and hailed an “important victory” after Russia announced its troops had retreated from the only regional capital it has captured after nearly nine months fighting.

Ukraine said Friday its forces were entering the southern city of Kherson after Russia announced its troops had retreated to defensive positions on the eastern bank of the Dnipro river.