Ukraine war briefing: Zelenskyy says Russia has damaged ‘every power plant’ as he seeks Latin American help

Volodymyr Zelenskyy has urged Latin American leaders to help Ukraine obtain urgently needed equipment to repair its power infrastructure damaged by Russian strikes. “Every power plant in Ukraine has been damaged in one way or another by attacks,” the Ukrainian president said at a summit in Madrid on Thursday, adding that repair crews were working around the clock. “We need as much international cooperation as possible to continue rebuilding and repairing our energy system,” he told a meeting on the sidelines of a summit of the Ibero-American Community, a 22-nation group of mainly Latin American Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking countries. “We know that companies in Spain and Latin America can help with this, can support this,” Zelenskyy said. “We need equipment that works with our power grid, and we need it fast.”

Donald Trump predicted a “very big” deal with Russia involving not only the Ukraine war but “all of Europe”, after meeting Russian president Vladimir Putin’s envoy. Trump revealed that he had an unscheduled meeting with Kirill Dmitriev, who was at the White House for talks with Ukrainian officials hosted by US first lady Melania Trump. “I can’t tell you what I discussed, but I’m just telling you, it’s going to be an agreement, it’s going to be a big agreement,” the US president told reporters in the Oval Office. “It’s going to be very big. It’s going to involve more than Ukraine, and I could even say it might involve all of Europe … everyone’s going to be thrilled.” Trump said he had not met with Ukrainian officials who were also at the White House on Thursday. His comments will fuel European concerns that he is pivoting towards the Kremlin and will pressure Ukraine towards an unfavourable deal to end Russia’s invasion.

Russia and Ukraine exchanged overnight airstrikes and one of Russia’s largest oil refineries appeared to have ⁠come under attack as a second day of talks on Ukraine’s postwar reconstruction and security guarantees wrapped up in Brussels on Thursday. A Ukrainian attack on a bus killed five people and wounded 13 in Ukraine’s Russian-occupied Luhansk region, according to its Moscow-backed leader, Leonid Pasechnik. In Komyshuvakha, near the frontline in Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region, rescue teams continued searching for more than 30 people believed trapped in the wreckage of a former school and a nearby shelter hit by Russian guided bombs on Monday. Zelenskyyy said 43 people had been confirmed dead, also saying one person previously reported missing had been found alive. In Russia, the Ryazan oil refinery appeared to have ⁠come under attack as part of a large overnight drone strike on industrial sites in the city south-east of Moscow, according to a Reuters video analysis.

Russia arranged to supply Iran with 90 launchers for advanced guided missiles, according to leaked defence industry documents that shed light on the depth of military cooperation between Moscow and Tehran. Pjotr Sauer reports that the documents, obtained by a Ukrainian private intelligence firm and shared with the Guardian, detail plans to supply Iran with launchers for the LMUR, a guided missile fired from attack helicopters which Russian forces have used extensively against Ukraine.

Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni has slammed Europe’s “disorderly” approach to Ukraine negotiations and demanded the EU decide who speaks on its behalf, in a letter seen by Agence France-Presse. In the message to European Council chief António Costa, Meloni complained about the recent proliferation of meetings in different formats for talks on Russia’s war on Ukraine. “All this is making us look utterly lacking in credibility in handling one of the most complicated dossiers our nations are facing,” the Italian leader wrote. In response Costa wrote back that he agreed “Europe needs to act with coherence, unity and determination”.