Second round of talks to begin after ‘massive’ strikes by Russia
Imogen Dewey
Hello and welcome to the Europe live blog. We will be bringing you all the latest updates as Ukrainian and Russian officials meet for their second round of talks in Abu Dhabi, brokered by the Trump administration. As Pjotr Sauer explains, the talks are expected to mirror last month’s format – but both sides have downplayed prospects of an immediate breakthrough.
Here are some of the latest major news lines to catch up on:
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Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said Moscow carried out a massive and “deliberate” attack on Monday night into Tuesday as temperatures in Kyiv plunged to -20C. It involved a record number of 71 ballistic missiles as well as 450 drones, he said, sent to destroy energy infrastructure.
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US president Donald Trump had said the new strikes did not – as Ukraine claimed – amount to a breach of Russia’s week-long commitment to hold off on striking Ukrainian energy infrastructure amid freezing winter temperatures, but Nato chief Mark Rutte said on Tuesday that the attacks “did not “signal seriousness about peace”.
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Under a proposal discussed between Ukrainian, European and US officials, sources briefed on the discussions have told the Financial Times, Kyiv has agreed with western allies that repeated breaches of any future ceasefire agreement from Russia would lead to a coordinated US-Europe military response.
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And meanwhile, as Julian Borger reports, the New Start treaty between the US and Russia expires on Thursday, removing the last remaining mutual limits on the world’s two biggest nuclear arsenals.
Key events
Southern Spain and Portugal brace for impact of Storm Leonardo
Red weather alerts have been issued for parts of southern Spain stretching from Málaga to Cádiz as authorities braced for the impact of Storm Leonardo.
Classes were suspended across most of the region on Wednesday and more than 3,000 people have been evacuated from the provinces of Cádiz, Málaga and Jaén, according to local reports.
A red warning is the most serious weather alert, signalling an extreme threat to life and property and urging people to avoid travel, stay indoors and follow official instructions.
The national weather forecaster, Aemet, said some parts of Sierra Grazalema in the province of Cádiz may see a year’s worth of rainfall from the storm.
In Portugal, central coastal areas could see wind gusts reaching 95 km/h (about 60mph) and waves up to 11 metres, according to weather forecasters. The most severe conditions are expected from Wednesday night to Thursday.
The Portuguese civil protection service raised its preparedness to the highest level, with the armed services deploying up to 3,000 soldiers alongside marine teams to flood-prone areas as weather conditions are expected to worsen throughout the week.
It comes a week after Storm Kristin tore through parts of northern and central Portugal, killing six people and causing flooding, landslides and widespread damage. Wind speeds reached 202 km/h (nearly 126mph), according to some reporters, beating a previous record set at 176.4 km/h (about 110mph) during Storm Leslie in October 2018.
Rescuers search for possible missing people after migrant boat collision kills 15
Rescuers are searching for possible missing people in the Aegean Sea after an overnight collision between a speedboat carrying migrants and a Greek coastguard vessel left at least 15 people dead.
The bodies of 11 men and three women were recovered from the sea near the island of Chios shortly after the collision, Greek authorities said. One woman later died in hospital.
A further 24 people, including 11 children, were taken to hospital in Chios, authorities added.
The coastguard said in a statement that one of its patrol vessels spotted the speedboat late on Tuesday night heading towards Chios without its navigations lights on and signalled it to stop. The speedboat refused to heed the warning and changed direction, colliding with the patrol vessel and capsizing, the statement added.
It was unclear how many people were on the speedboat.
You can read more on this story here:
Greece is a major entry point to Europe for people fleeing war and violence in the Middle East, Africa and Asia, with many attempting the dangerous crossing from the Turkish coast to nearby Greek islands in the eastern Aegean. The UN refugee agency (UNHCR) said in November that more than 1,700 people died or went missing in 2025 attempting such perilous journeys in the Mediterranean and in the Atlantic off the coast of west Africa.
The International Organisation for Migration, the UN’s migration agency, said about 33,000 migrants have died or gone missing in the Mediterranean since 2014. But migrant arrivals to the Aegean islands have declined significantly in recent months, the Greek newspaper Kathimerini reported.
Here are some latest images coming through the newswires from Ukraine:
Luke Harding has reported on the details of Russia’s attack on Tuesday, which Ukraine said involved a record number of 71 ballistic missiles as well as 450 drones sent to destroy energy infrastructure.
Kyiv residents reported loud explosions beginning at 1am on Tuesday in strikes that caused damage to five Kyiv districts and injured at least nine people. An air raid alert stayed in effect for more than five hours, and more than 1,000 residential buildings were without heating.
In the north-eastern city of Kharkiv, the mayor, Ihor Terekhov, said energy infrastructure had been damaged. More than 800 buildings were without heat, as water was drained from radiator systems to stop them freezing in the bitter cold.
You can read more here:
A drone strike on the southern city of Zaporizhzhia also killed two teenagers and wounded at least 11 people.
What do most Ukrainians and Russians want?
Battered by a historically cold winter and facing gruelling months ahead, with much of its civilian infrastructure damaged by Russian strikes, Ukrainians are showing clear signs of exhaustion. While the desire for peace is widespread, polling indicates firm resistance to any settlement that would see the entire Donbas region handed over to Russia in exchange for US and European security guarantees and an end to the war. Many in the country fear such a compromise would not bring lasting peace, but instead embolden Moscow to press its campaign further.
It is harder to gauge public sentiment in Russia, where any criticism of the war can result in a prison sentence. However, the few independent polls that still exist suggest that the share of Russians who favour peace talks has risen to 61%. At the same time, those surveys indicate that Russians, much like their leader, remain unwilling to make territorial concessions as part of a peace settlement.
Read more here:
Second round of talks to begin after ‘massive’ strikes by Russia
Imogen Dewey
Hello and welcome to the Europe live blog. We will be bringing you all the latest updates as Ukrainian and Russian officials meet for their second round of talks in Abu Dhabi, brokered by the Trump administration. As Pjotr Sauer explains, the talks are expected to mirror last month’s format – but both sides have downplayed prospects of an immediate breakthrough.
Here are some of the latest major news lines to catch up on:
-
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said Moscow carried out a massive and “deliberate” attack on Monday night into Tuesday as temperatures in Kyiv plunged to -20C. It involved a record number of 71 ballistic missiles as well as 450 drones, he said, sent to destroy energy infrastructure.
-
US president Donald Trump had said the new strikes did not – as Ukraine claimed – amount to a breach of Russia’s week-long commitment to hold off on striking Ukrainian energy infrastructure amid freezing winter temperatures, but Nato chief Mark Rutte said on Tuesday that the attacks “did not “signal seriousness about peace”.
-
Under a proposal discussed between Ukrainian, European and US officials, sources briefed on the discussions have told the Financial Times, Kyiv has agreed with western allies that repeated breaches of any future ceasefire agreement from Russia would lead to a coordinated US-Europe military response.
-
And meanwhile, as Julian Borger reports, the New Start treaty between the US and Russia expires on Thursday, removing the last remaining mutual limits on the world’s two biggest nuclear arsenals.
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