Kyiv faces fresh Russian attacks, Zelenskyy replaces chief negotiator

Ukraine's capital faced attacks overnight, hours after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy removed his powerful chief of staff and top negotiator following a raid on Andriy Yermak's house as part of a sweeping corruption probe.

Yermak's removal dealt a serious blow to Zelenskyy, who faces a mounting Russian offensive in the east as Washington peddles a plan to end the conflict that Kyiv fears will hand big concessions to Moscow.

Yermak, 54, was supposed to have negotiated on behalf of Ukraine at the talks.

President Zelenskyy said that a delegation headed by security council secretary Rustem Umerov was already on its way to the United States to continue talks on an agreement to end the conflict. 

"Rustem delivered a report today, and the task is clear: to swiftly and substantively work out the steps needed to end the war," Zelenskyy wrote on X.

Zelenskyy said he expected that the results of previous meetings with the U.S. in Geneva would now be "hammered out" on Sunday.

Ukraine has been negotiating with the United States on the terms of a peace agreement that Washington is seeking to broker between Kyiv and Moscow to end the nearly four-year-long conflict. 

Kyiv and its European allies say they want peace but have pushed back against some of the original terms backed by the U.S., with Ukraine unwilling to withdraw from land it currently holds and resisting any restriction on its future ability to join alliances.

'Massive' overnight strike

Russia's Defense Ministry said that Moscow had launched a "massive" overnight strike on Ukrainian military-industrial and energy facilities in response to what it called "terrorist attacks."

The attack killed three people and wounded nearly 30, Ukrainian officials said, with more than 600,000 households left without power after strikes on the grid.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russia had launched around 36 missiles and nearly 600 drones in the attack.

Moscow has conducted regular large-scale bombardments of Ukraine's power infrastructure since 2022, but the latest campaign this autumn has pushed Ukrainian cities including Kyiv into a torrid situation, with many households only getting eight hours of power on some of the worst days of blackouts.

The deafening roar of generators and the stench of diesel fumes now fill the capital's avenues, and people use torches at night as streetlights are often out.

The head of Kyiv's military administration, Tymur Tkachenko, said there had been strikes at six locations, with apartment buildings and other dwellings hit in the city of three million.

The military administration said the body of one resident was recovered from rubble at an apartment building that had been set ablaze. A child was rescued from the same building.

Mayor Vitali Klitschko said a strike had also triggered a fire in the lower floors of a high-rise apartment block west of the city center. Another fire broke out and was quickly brought under control in a central district.

A new air raid alert for incoming drones was issued in the capital after 5 am (0300 GMT).

Pictures posted online showed at least one apartment building on fire and emergency crews working alongside damaged buildings and in streets littered with debris.

Ukraine hits 'shadow fleet' tankers

Meanwhile, Ukraine's military said it had hit Russia's Afipsky oil refinery in the Krasnodar region overnight, as well as the Beriev military aviation plant in Rostov region.

In a statement on social media, the military said it had recorded explosions and a fire at the refinery.

Ukraine hit two 'shadow fleet' tankers with sea drones in the Black Sea, an official from the SBU security service said.

The joint operation was run by the SBU and Ukraine's navy, the official said on condition of anonymity.

"Video (footage) shows that after being hit, both tankers sustained critical damage and were effectively taken out of service. This will deal a significant blow to Russian oil transportation," the official said.

They did not say when the strike took place.

Türkiye said that an unmanned vessel reportedly attacked a tanker in Russia's shadow fleet off Türkiye's Black Sea coast, after the ship was initially struck late on Friday.

The Türkish transport ministry said in a statement that the Virat suffered minor damage after the attack but is in a stable condition and the crew is in good health.

Separately, Türkish authorities continue extinguishing and cooling efforts on another Russian-bound tanker that caught fire after an explosion in the Black Sea, the ministry said.

The rescue teams have evacuated 25 crew members from the 274-meter-long Kairos following the fire, the ministry said.

Both Kairos and Virat are on a list of ships subject to sanctions imposed against Russia following the start of the conflict with Ukraine in 2022, according to LSEG data.