Ukraine war briefing: power to Zaporizhzhia plant cut off as UN watchdog warns nuclear safety ‘extremely precarious’

All external power lines supplying electricity to the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine were down for several hours on Friday, the UN nuclear watchdog said, but the station’s management later said power had been restored. International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Rafael Grossi acknowledged that power had been restored after 3½ hours but added on X that nuclear safety “remains extremely precarious in Ukraine”. The Ukrainian energy minister blamed Russian shelling for severing the last power line to the plant and its six reactors. Ukraine’s power distribution operator said its technicians had taken action to restore it. Europe’s biggest nuclear power plant, which is not operating but still requires power to keep its nuclear fuel cool, switched during the outage to running on diesel generators, the IAEA said.

Ukraine has accused Vladimir Putin of “publicly humiliating” Donald Trump after Russia launched a devastating attack with a record number of drones and ballistic missiles on Kyiv hours after the two leaders spoke by phone. Luke Harding reports that Volodymyr Zelenskyy described the seven-hour raid as a “deliberate act of terror” that “immediately followed the call between Washington and Moscow”. It was one of the most severe assaults of the war and a “clear interpretation of how Moscow interprets diplomacy”, the Ukrainian president added. The attack overnight to Friday involved more than 550 Russian drones and ballistic missiles, with officials saying one person was killed and at least 23 people injured.

Zelenskyy said interceptor drones had proved effective in downing many Russian drones in the Kyiv assault and issued a new call for their rapid development and production. “We are scaling this up as much as possible,” he said in his nightly video address. “More production of these interceptor drones, more training and more preparation for our drone operators. This is a clear task.”

Trump spoke with Zelenskyy on Friday as the US president appears increasingly disheartened over his chances of fulfilling a campaign pledge to end the Russia-Ukraine war, Andrew Roth reports. The call with Zelenskyy came after Moscow’s attack on Kyiv and as Washington has halted its latest shipment of military aid to Ukraine. Zelenskyy called the conversation “important and useful” and said he and Trump discussed Ukraine’s air defence capabilities, joint defence production and “mutual purchases and investments”. Trump expressed disappointment after speaking with Putin in a call, saying: “I’m very disappointed with the conversation I had today with President Putin, because I don’t think he’s there. I don’t think he’s there and I’m very disappointed. I’m just saying, I don’t think he’s looking to stop, and that’s too bad.”

Germany was exploring the possibility of buying more Patriot air defence systems from the US for Ukraine, a government spokesman said, as Russia intensifies its aerial attacks. Asked about reports the government in Berlin had reached out to Washington over a deal for new anti-missile systems, government spokesperson Stefan Kornelius said on Friday he could “confirm that more intensive discussions are indeed taking place on this”. Chancellor Friedrich Merz raised the issue in a call with Trump on Thursday, according to reports.

Russia and Ukraine announced a fresh prisoner swap on Friday as part of agreements reached between them during talks in Istanbul last month. Volodymyr Zelenskyy published photographs of freed Ukrainian troops wrapped in blue and yellow flags. He did not say how many Ukrainians had been returned. Russia’s defence ministry also reported the swap, saying Kyiv handed over a group of its servicemen who were currently in Moscow-allied Belarus, while also not saying how many troops were exchanged.

Emmanuel Macron and Keir Starmer will co-chair talks with other European leaders on boosting Ukraine’s defences, the Elysee Palace said. “There will certainly be a discussion on how to seriously maintain Ukraine’s combat capability,” it said on Friday, adding that the French president and the British prime minister would co-chair the meeting of Kyiv’s allies by video linkduring the French leader’s visit to the UK next week.