Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called on Wednesday for an end to Russian air strikes on Ukraine's energy infrastructure, a position that diverges from the ceasefire framework United States President Donald Trump has been advancing.

Zelenskyy indicated that strikes on Ukraine's power grid, along with oil and gas facilities, had continued through a third consecutive night, despite Trump's assertion that both parties had agreed to halt attacks on energy infrastructure — a statement that emerged more than four years into the war that began with the Russian military's advance into Ukrainian territory.

Zelenskyy's decision to wind down an extended series of Ukrainian strikes on Russian oil-refining infrastructure — operations that had contributed to fuel supply disruptions inside Russia — was confirmed over the period. A drone strike attributed to Ukraine on a petroleum-processing facility was documented on the Friday before last.

No statement from the Kremlin confirmed that the truce had received Moscow's approval, with a spokesperson indicating only that discussions on the matter were ongoing. Ceasefire diplomacy attributed to Trump has yet to yield any tangible results.

Kyiv has reported that its forces are pushing back against Russian troops in the country's east, a region Moscow's military has been attempting to seize over the course of several years. Brigadier General Andrii Biletskyi, who commands Ukraine's Third Army Corps, reported Wednesday that the offensive launched over the summer had reclaimed roughly 277 square kilometres of territory. No independent corroboration of that assertion was available, and no statement from Russian authorities was forthcoming.

Officials in Kyiv argued that any deal brokered by Trump to channel Russian diesel into American markets would direct fuel revenues toward the ongoing military effort. That view found support among European governments, which pointed to broader patterns of territorial ambition on the continent and described certain Russian activities there as falling under the category of hybrid warfare.

A Wednesday visit to London had been arranged for Zelenskyy, where he was set to hold discussions with British Prime Minister Andy Burnham while Ukraine and its European partners continued efforts to bolster the country's defensive capabilities. Burnham, addressing reporters ahead of Zelenskyy's planned visit, pledged continued backing for Ukraine, stating that the country's support would be sustained for as long as necessary and would intensify in pace and scope.

In a Wednesday social media post, Zelenskyy urged the United States and other countries to take stronger action against ongoing Russian air strikes, adding that Moscow had chosen to continue its military campaign rather than pursue any path toward de-escalation — a campaign he characterised as one aimed at complete destruction.

According to a statement released Wednesday by the defence ministry in Moscow, overnight operations targeted power-generation facilities across Kyiv, the surrounding region, and the Kharkiv area in the northeast, with six plants in total reported as having been hit. Strikes on all three of Kyiv's combined heat and power plants took place before dawn on Wednesday, according to a Telegram post from Prime Minister Serhii Koretskyi.

Zelenskyy reported that the outage had stripped power from a minimum of 600,000 people. He further reported that 39 ballistic missiles and upwards of 120 drones struck power and infrastructure targets across Kyiv, the surrounding region, and Kharkiv through the night.

Five people were killed and 36 sustained injuries after aerial attacks on the capital stretched from late Tuesday into the early hours of Wednesday, according to Kyiv police.

Kyiv has raised the possibility that access to battlefield intelligence from the United States and connectivity through Elon Musk's Starlink satellite network could be at risk. Starlink connectivity underpins both aerial-threat interception efforts and the guidance of long-range drone operations directed at military infrastructure across Russian territory.

SpaceX applied speed restrictions to Starlink terminals fitted on Ukrainian drones during the overnight hours, according to Serhii Beskrestnov, an adviser to President Zelenskyy, who posted the information on Telegram. Beskrestnov noted in his post that the throttling placed added burdens on logistics, unmanned systems units, and mid-range strike operations, and he expressed the view — without providing further detail — that the timing pointed to a connection with the prevailing political situation rather than chance. No statement from SpaceX had been issued by the time of publication.

Zelenskyy stated Tuesday that the advance notifications his country's partners ordinarily send ahead of Russian missile strikes on Kyiv were not delivered before the latest attacks. Both Trump and a member of Ukraine's parliamentary Defense Committee conveyed the same position — that the flow of intelligence between the United States and its partners, including Ukraine, had continued without interruption. The legislator, speaking without authorisation to make public statements, requested that their name not be used.

The Russian Defence Ministry reported Wednesday that air-defence units had intercepted and brought down 902 Ukrainian drone aircraft during overnight operations spanning several Russian regions, the Crimean Peninsula — which Russia seized and annexed — and waters belonging to the Azov Sea. According to a statement from Sergei Sobyanin, who leads Moscow's city administration, a total of 493 unmanned aerial vehicles were tracked heading toward the Moscow region, with the bulk brought down at a distance and a further 180 neutralised before reaching the capital itself. Sobyanin reported no injuries or property damage.

One fatality was recorded and a number of homes sustained damage across the Saratov region, according to a statement from Governor Roman Busargin. Sberbank, the Russian state-owned lender, disclosed that its data facility in Saratov had been targeted in an attack. Alexander Vedyakhin, first deputy chairman at Sberbank, told a state-run news outlet that the bank's systems were functioning without disruption.

Moves to expand the sanctions regime against Russia are under way in both the United Kingdom and the European Union.