Issued on: 06/12/2025 - 07:17Modified: 06/12/2025 - 22:55

French President Emmanuel Macron will meet leaders from Ukraine, Germany and the UK in London on Monday to take stock of the ongoing US-mediated peace negotiations, the French president said on social media. Macron condemned Moscow’s overnight drone and missile attacks on Ukraine, saying that Russia was not “seeking peace”. Read our liveblog to find out how the day's events unfolded.

This liveblog is no longer being updated. For more on the war in Ukraine, click here.

Hungary's Orban to send team to Russia in hope of end to Ukraine war

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban announced that he was sending a business delegation to Russia in the coming days in preparation of the end of the Ukraine war.

Orban addressed Budapest's foreign relations with Moscow and also Washington at an exclusive rally in the central city of Kecskemet, just a month ahead of legislative elections.

The delegation's mission would focus on economic cooperation, particularly in a post-war landscape that could see Russia not cut out from the Western economy but rather reintegrated, he said.

"We have to think ahead, because if God helps us and the war ends without us being dragged into it, and if the American president succeeds in reintegrating Russia into the global economy and the sanctions are dismantled, we will find ourselves in a different economic landscape," Orban said.

The nationalist premier is a rare European leader to be close to both US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Zelensky says Ukraine is 'determined to keep working in good faith' with US after call with negotiators

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he had spoken to US negotiators Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, hailing what he described as a "long and constructive" conversation.

"Ukraine is determined to keep working in good faith with the American side to genuinely achieve peace," he wrote on social media. "We agreed on the next steps and formats for talks with the United States."

Macron will meet Ukraine, UK and German leaders on Monday

French President Emmanuel Macron said he will meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in London on Monday to "take stock" of ongoing US-led negotiations.

"I will travel to London on Monday to meet with the Ukrainian resident, the British prime minister and the German chancellor to take stock of the situation and the ongoing negotiations under US mediation," Macron wrote on X on Saturday, slamming what he called Russia's "escalatory approach".

"We must continue to put pressure on Russia to force it to make peace," the French president said.

Macron condemns Russia's overnight strikes on Ukraine

French President Emmanuel Macron condemned "in the strongest terms" Russia's massive overnight drone and missile attacks against critical Ukrainian infrastructure.

Macron said he would meet his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky in London on Monday.

Read more

Bulgaria condemns leaving drone-hit tanker ship off coast

Bulgaria denounced the towing of a crippled tanker ship into the country's waters, just over a week after the ship was hit by a Ukrainian drone attack.

The tanker, the Kairos, was towed into Bulgarian waters by a Turkish ship and then left there as the tow returned to Turkey, said Rumen Nikolov, director general of rescue and relief operations for the Bulgarian Maritime Administration.

"This is not normal," Rumen said at a press briefing in the Bulgarian Black Sea port of Varna, adding that they were seeking an explanation for the towing action "through diplomatic channels".

The Kairos was one of two Gambian-flagged tankers, along with the Virat, that were rocked by explosions on November 28 in the Black Sea off the Turkish coast.

You can read more about Ukraine's attacks against tankers it accuses of belonging to Russia's "shadow fleet" here:

Ukraine's military says it hit Russian Ryazan oil refinery

Ukraine's military said on Saturday that Ukrainian forces had hit the Russian Ryazan oil refinery as well as a shell-casing manufacturing plant.

The military said the refinery and the shell casing manufacturing plant located in Alchevsk in occupied Luhansk region were attacked on Sunday night, but provided no details of the attacks.

Russian strikes on Ukraine energy sites trigger heating, water cuts

An overnight Russian drone and missile attack involving 653 drones and 51 missiles has targeted critical infrastructure, including energy sites and railways, triggering heating and water outages for thousands of households, Kyiv said on Saturday.

"The main targets of these strikes, once again, were energy facilities. Russia's aim is to inflict suffering on millions of Ukrainians," President Volodymyr Zelensky said on social media.

A Russian drone strike hit and "burned down the main railway station building in Fastiv", a city around 70 kilometres (43 miles) southwest of Kyiv, Zelensky said.

"There were no casualties but suburban train traffic has been disrupted," Ukraine's state rail operator Ukrzaliznytsya added.

The drones and missiles had also targeted energy facilities in the Chernigiv, Zaporizhzhia, Lviv, and Dnipropetrovsk regions, Kyiv officials said.

"In the Odesa region, 9,500 subscribers remain without heat supply and 34,000 subscribers remain without water supply due to damage," Restoration Minister Oleksiy Kuleba said.

Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant temporarily loses power overnight, IAEA says

Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant temporarily lost all off-site power overnight, the International Atomic Energy Agency said on Saturday, citing its Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi.

The plant was reconnected to a 330-kilovolt (kV) power line after an half-hour outage, but a 750 kV line is still disconnected, the IAEA said.

Ukrainian women embrace combat roles as technology reshapes the battlefield

When Russia’s full-scale invasion began nearly four years ago, a 26-year-old soldier known as Monka couldn't find a combat role she could do. But that changed as technology reshaped the battlefield and opened new paths.

Last year, she joined the military as a pilot of short-range, first-person view, or FPV, drones after giving up a job managing a restaurant abroad and returning home to Ukraine to serve.

Her shift is part of a larger trend of more women joining Ukraine's military in combat roles, a change made possible by the technological transformation of modern warfare, military officials say.

“The fact that technology lets us deliver ammunition without carrying it in our hands or running it to the front line — that’s incredible,” said Monka, who serves in the Unmanned Systems Battalion of the Third Army Corps. She and other women followed Ukraine’s military protocol by identifying themselves using only their call signs.

More than 70,000 women served in Ukraine's military in 2025, a 20% increase compared with 2022, including over 5,500 deployed directly on the front line, according to Ukraine’s Defense Ministry.

Some units have tailored recruitment efforts toward women, expanding rosters in a sign that Ukraine is looking to strengthen and expand its army even as peace negotiations weigh a possible cap on the future size of the military.

Ukrainians take shelter inside a metro station during an overnight Russian missile and drone strike

📷 Alina Smutko, Reuters

Russian strikes hit Kyiv region overnight as troops press on in Donetsk

Russia carried out a large-scale drone and missile attack on the Kyiv region early Saturday, wounding three people and prompting air-raid alerts across nearly all of Ukraine. Regional governor Mykola Kalashnyk said the strikes targeted the wider capital area at dawn, while only the far-western Zakarpattia region was spared. Moscow, meanwhile, reported intercepting 116 Ukrainian drones overnight.

On the front line, Russian troops continued their grinding advance against outnumbered Ukrainian forces. The Russian military claimed the capture of Bezimenne in the eastern Donetsk region, where heavy fighting remains concentrated. The incremental gains underscore mounting pressure on Ukrainian defences as the war continues to intensify.

US, Ukraine to meet for third day, say 'real progress' depends on Russia

Ukrainian negotiators and US President Donald Trump's envoys will hold a third day of talks in Miami on Saturday, they said in a statement, adding that progress on a peace deal depends on Russia.

"Both parties agreed that real progress towards any agreement depends on Russia's readiness to show serious commitment to long-term peace, including steps toward de-escalation and cessation of killings," said the readout posted on X by envoy Steve Witkoff on Friday.

Keywords for this article

The content you requested does not exist or is not available anymore.