Ukraine war live: NATO members evacuated villages after Putin’s attack

Spain will announce today a ‘substantial’ aid package for Ukraine, the country’s State Secretary for Foreign Affairs said on Tuesday during Volodymyr Zelensky’s visit to Madrid.

Zelensky wrote on Twitter that he had spoken to lawmakers to discuss cooperation with Spanish defense companies, the need for aid, and support for Ukraine and Moldova’s “joint path” to EU membership.

Ukraine attacked two thermal power stations in Russian-held Donetsk, the commander of its drone forces said on Tuesday.

Major Robert Brody wrote that the Starobeshivska and Zuivska power plants were attacked by his forces.

He posted a video showing onboard footage of a drone attacking a facility.

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s special envoy Kirill Dmitriev told Axios in an interview published Tuesday that Russia and the United States have discussed the possibility of holding another prisoner exchange.

“I met with some US officials and members of the Trump team on some issues that are humanitarian in nature, such as a possible prisoner exchange that the US side is working on,” Dmitriev said.

The Axios report, citing a source, said Dmitriev discussed the idea of ​​the latest swap with US envoy Steve Witkoff and other administration officials.

In August 2024, the US and Russia conducted their largest prisoner swap since the Cold War, granting freedom to 24 prisoners, including American journalist Ivan Gershkovich and ex-Marine Paul Whalen.

Everything points to Russian intelligence services carrying out sabotage on Polish railways over the weekend, a spokesman for the Minister of Special Services said on Tuesday.

Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on Monday that the explosion that damaged Polish railway tracks en route to Ukraine was an “unprecedented act of sabotage”, as he vowed to hold those responsible for an incident he said could have ended in tragedy.

A Kremlin spokesman said today that Russian representatives will not take part in talks on Ukraine in Istanbul on Wednesday, with Zelensky and US special envoy Steve Witkoff heading to Turkey this week.

Russia’s Foreign Ministry indicated last week that Moscow was ready to resume direct talks in Istanbul, nearly four months after the last round.

Foreign Ministry official Alexei Polishchuk said, “The Russian team is ready for this, the ball is in Ukraine’s court.”

Ukraine’s anti-corruption agencies announced last Monday, November 10, that they had uncovered a large-scale corruption scheme in the country’s energy sector.

Ukraine’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAP) concluded after a 15-month investigation that some of Zelensky’s close associates were involved in a conspiracy to launder approximately $100 million from Ukraine’s energy sector.

In ‘Operation Midas’, the agencies dismantled an alleged criminal organization that included current and former energy executives, government ministers, a former deputy prime minister and a businessman.

The accused are said to have rigged contracts at Ukraine’s state nuclear power company Energoatom to collect kickbacks – secret payments similar to bribes, made in return for a favour. It was said that these were worth about 10–15 percent of the contracts awarded to build fortifications against Russian attacks on energy infrastructure, as civilians face frequent blackouts.

As of Tuesday, November 11, eight people were charged with bribery, embezzlement and illegal enrichment. President Zelensky vowed to “overhaul” state-owned energy companies in the wake of the scandal, starting with a full audit.

Many of those implicated in the scandal are closely associated with the President. Zelensky is not directly involved.

Earlier this year, Zelensky faced investigation for signing a law limiting the independence of Nabu and SAP. Ukraine saw the first major anti-government protests since the invasion in 2022.

A 17-year-old girl was killed in an overnight Russian attack on the town of Berestin in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region.

Regional governor Oleg Sinegubov said the girl, who has not been named, was seriously injured in the attack and later died.

Nine people were injured in the attack, including seven who were hospitalized with injuries from the blast, he wrote on Telegram on Tuesday.

US special envoy Steve Witkoff is expected to visit Turkey on Wednesday to attend planned talks with Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky, a Turkish source told Reuters today.

Zelensky, who earlier said he planned to visit Turkey after his Tuesday visit to Spain, said Ukraine was preparing to reinvigorate talks and had developed solutions it would propose to its partners.

The Kremlin has suggested openness to resuming talks in Istanbul. The last time a delegation from Russia and Ukraine met for direct talks was in July.

We have more photos of the Russian attack on Dnipro, which damaged the building housing Ukrainian public broadcaster Suspilne and Ukrainian Radio Dnipro.