Key developments after massive Russian attack on Ukraine power network

The latest attack on Ukraine has left Kyiv in darkness and stoked fears Russia could plan to damage the country's energy supplies ahead of a bitter winter.

Customers use camera flashes in a supermarket during a power outage in Kyiv, Ukraine, on November 27, 2024. (Photo by Ukrinform/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Customers use camera flashes in a supermarket during a power outage in Kyiv, Ukraine, following a Russian attack. (Getty)

Large parts of Ukraine have been left without power after Russia launched a huge attack on the country’s energy infrastructure on Thursday.

As the war in Ukraine continues its escalation of recent months, the massive strike cut power for more than one million people across the capital Kyiv and three western regions of the country, amid freezing temperatures.

The attack has stoked fears Russia could be planning to damage the country's energy supplies ahead of long, bitter winter.

The escalation follows the US and the UK giving the green light earlier this month for Ukraine to use its longe-range missiles to fire at targets in Russia. On Tuesday, Russia vowed to retaliate after announcing Ukraine had struck Russian military installations with US-supplied weapons.

Catch up with the latest key developments from our media partners below. Click the headline to skip ahead

> Putin responds after massive attack on Ukraine power network

> Putin: Trump not safe after assassination attempts

> US pressures Ukraine to lower conscription age

> Nuclear attack unlikely despite Putin's warnings, US intelligence says

> Europe in 'actual war' with Russia, former UK intelligence chief says

Russia’s widespread overnight attack targeting critical energy infrastructure facilities in Ukraine was a response to strikes on Russian territory using US-made ATACMS missiles, President Vladimir Putin said Thursday.

Putin claimed Russia hit 17 targets that were “military facilities, defense industry facilities and their support systems,” without acknowledging the hits to power infrastructure. “As I have said many times, there will always be a response from our side (to the use of American ATACMS),” Putin said.

BUTLER, PENNSYLVANIA - JULY 13: Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump is rushed offstage by U.S. Secret Service agents after being grazed by a bullet during a rally on July 13, 2024 in Butler, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
Donald Trump is rushed offstage after being grazed by a bullet during a rally in July. (Getty)

Vladimir Putin praised U.S. President-elect Donald Trump on Thursday as an experienced and intelligent politician, but said he did not believe Trump was safe after attempts on his life.

Trump was wounded in an assassination attempt in Pennsylvania in July. In a separate incident in September, a man was charged with attempted assassination after allegedly positioning himself with a rifle at one of Trump's Florida golf courses.

Speaking to reporters in Kazakhstan after a summit, Putin said he had been shocked by the way the US election campaign had unfolded.

He cited "the absolutely uncivilised methods used to battle against Trump, up to and including an assassination attempt - and more than once". "By the way, in my opinion, he is not safe now," said Putin.

KYIV OBLAST, UKRAINE - NOVEMBER 24: Ukrainian servicemen of the mobile anti-aircraft fire group of the 112th Territorial Defense Brigade prepare anti-UAV weapon on November 24, 2024 in Kyiv Oblast, Ukraine. Armed with portable anti-aircraft missile complexes and machine guns of various systems, servicemen from the mobile anti-aircraft fire groups of the 112th Territorial Defense Brigade are on round-the-clock duty to protect the airspace over Kyiv Oblast and Kyiv from attacks by Russian missiles and drones. (Photo by Yevhenii Vasyliev/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images)
Ukrainian servicemen of the mobile anti-aircraft fire group of the 112th Territorial Defense Brigade prepare an anti-UAV weapon in Kyiv. (Ukraine)

Ukraine should consider lowering the age of military service for its soldiers from 25 to 18, a senior US administration official said.

Ukraine was not mobilising or training enough new soldiers to replace those lost on the battlefield, the official who spoke anonymously said.

“The need right now is manpower,” he said. “The Russians are in fact making progress, steady progress, in the east, and they are beginning to push back Ukrainian lines in Kursk… Mobilisation and more manpower could make a significant difference at this time as we look at the battlefield today.”

FILE PHOTO: Russian President Vladimir Putin conducts an exercise of Russia's strategic nuclear deterrence forces to train actions of officials on operating nuclear weapons with practical launches of ballistic and cruise missiles, via video link at the Kremlin, in Moscow, Russia October 29, 2024. Sputnik/Mikhail Metzel/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo
The risk of Vladimir Putin using nuclear weapons has not increased, according to sources. (Reuters)

The US decision to allow Ukraine to fire American weapons deeper into Russia has not increased the risk of a nuclear attack, which is unlikely, despite Russian president Vladimir Putin's increasingly bellicose statements, five sources familiar with US intelligence told Reuters.

But Russia is likely to expand a campaign of sabotage against European targets to increase pressure on the West over its support for Kyiv, said two senior officials, a lawmaker and two congressional aides briefed on the matter.

A series of intelligence assessments over the past seven months have concluded nuclear escalation was unlikely to result from a decision to loosen restrictions on Ukraine's use of US weapons. That view has not changed following president Joe Biden's changed US stance this month on weapons, said the sources, who were granted anonymity to speak freely about sensitive intelligence.

Sir Richard Dearlove former Chief of the British Secret Intelligence Service MI6 pictured at Hay Festival 2009.
Former MI6 chief Sir Richard Dearlove believed Europe is in an ‘actual war’ with Russia. (PA)

Europe is not currently in "a pre-war" situation, but in "an actual war" against Russia, former MI6 head Richard Dearlove told Sky News on 27 November.

"I think we have to face up to the fact that the Russians think they're in a state of war with us," Dearlove said.

Dearlove's comments came days after Polish prime minister Donald Tusk warned that Russia's full-scale war in Ukraine risked escalating into a "global conflict."