US President, Donald Trump’s overseas envoy will travel to Germany this weekend to meet Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelensky and European leaders for the latest round of high-level talks on ending the war.
Steve Witkoff, who has been leading White House attempts to mediate between Ukraine and Russia, will discuss the latest version of the proposed peace agreement in Berlin.
The Trump administration is pushing for a deal to be in place by Christmas and has held several rounds of talks with Ukrainian and Russian representatives in recent weeks, though there has been little sign a breakthrough is imminent.
It has not yet been confirmed which European leaders will attend the Berlin talks.
The Wall Street Journal, which first reported details of the meeting, said UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz would all take part.
Confirmation of the Witkoff-Zelensky meeting comes days after Ukraine gave the US its revised version of a 20-point peace plan, the latest iteration of a proposal which first emerged in late November and has triggered a flurry of diplomatic activity.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian officials said Russia launched a massive series of bombardments in the south overnight.
Zelensky said civilian facilities including energy and industrial infrastructure had been hit. More than 450 drones and 30 missiles were used in overnight strikes, he added, leaving two people injured and thousands without electricity across seven regions.
Russia’s defence ministry said it used weapons including Kinzhal hypersonic missiles in the strikes – which are hard to track as they can change direction mid-flight.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant temporarily lost all offsite power overnight “due to widespread military activities affecting the electrical grid”, but is now reconnected.
The plant is in Russian-controlled territory in Ukraine. It isn’t operating, but relies on a constant power supply to cool its reactors.
In Russia, regional governor Roman Busargin said two people were killed in Saratov after a drone strike hit a residential building.
BBC / Titilayo Kupoliyi
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