TOP HEADLINES

· More than 500 Ukrainian localities remained without power following weeks of Russian air strikes on the electric grid, an interior ministry official said. READ MORE BELOW

· Russian-installed officials said nine people were killed by Ukrainian shelling of a dormitory in the eastern Luhansk region. Ukrainian officials said one person was killed and three wounded by Russian rockets that hit the southern city of Kryvyi Rih.

· French President Emmanuel Macron drew criticism from Ukraine and its Baltic allies over the weekend for suggesting the West should consider Russia's need for security guarantees if it agrees to talks to end the war.

· The Kremlin said a Western price cap on Russian oil would destabilize global energy markets but would not affect Moscow's ability to sustain its military operation in Ukraine. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia was preparing to respond to the move by the G7 and other allies to ban countries and companies from dealing with Russian sea-borne exports of oil where the price is above $60 a barrel.

· The price cap on Russian oil agreed by the EU, G7 and Australia comes into force on Monday. It aims to restrict Russia's revenue while making sure Moscow keeps supplying the global market. The cap is due to take effect alongside an EU embargo on maritime deliveries of Russian crude oil, which comes several months after an embargo imposed by the U.S. and Canada.

· There is no prospect of a negotiated end to the war in Ukraine, according to Irina Scherbakova, one of the co-founders of the Nobel Peace Prize-winning Russian rights organization Memorial. "I am absolutely convinced that there is not a diplomatic solution with Putin's regime, so long as it is still there," Scherbakova said in Hamburg, Germany.

· Russian President Vladimir Putin will "in due time" visit east Ukraine's Donbas region, which he claims to have absorbed, the Kremlin told Russian news agencies. "In due time, this will happen, of course. This is a region of the Russian Federation," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, without indicating when this could happen. 

· A long-time ally of President Vladimir Putin, Alexei Kudrin, said he will be joining Yandex as the Kremlin seeks to tighten its grip on Russia's top technology giant. The announcement from the former finance minister comes after months of instability at the internet company, with employees fleeing due to the military offensive in Ukraine and its founder hit by Western sanctions.

· The United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Ukraine announced their intention to start negotiations on a bilateral trade deal that is expected to conclude by mid-2023, the UAE economy ministry said.

IN DETAIL
 

Hundreds of Ukrainian localities remain without electricity

More than 500 Ukrainian localities remained without power following weeks of Russian air strikes on the electric grid, an interior ministry official said.

"The enemy continues to attack the country's essential infrastructure. Currently, 507 localities in eight regions of our country are cut off from electricity supplies," deputy interior minister Yevhen Yenin told Ukrainian television. "The Kharkiv region is the worst hit with 112 isolated villages," Yenin added.

Another 90 villages were cut off in the Donetsk and Kherson regions, he said, with others in the regions of Mykolaiv, Zaporizhzhia and Luhansk.

On Saturday, Ukrainian authorities - including Mykolaiv's governor Vitali Kim - had once again urged civilians to prepare themselves in the face of continually deteriorating early winter conditions and regular power outages. Repeated daily power cuts have left millions of people without heat or lighting while outside temperatures have dropped below zero Celsius (32 Fahrenheit) in recent days. With further strikes on the network widely expected, Ukrainians fear a difficult prolonged winter as well as a flood of departures by refugees from a war now into its tenth month.

Private Ukrainian energy operator DTEK said nearly half of Ukraine's electricity grid remains damaged after Russia began targeting Ukrainian energy facilities in October following a series of humiliating military defeats on the ground.