Ukraine Launches Nearly 1,200 Drones at Russia as US-Led Talks Take Up Wider European Security

Ukraine fired almost 1,200 drones at Russian targets overnight, one of its biggest aerial attacks since Moscow began its full-scale invasion nearly five years ago, as diplomatic efforts to end the war took a significant and controversial turn.

U.S. and Russian negotiators moved to include wider European security arrangements, in place since the end of the Cold War, in talks aimed at stopping the fighting. The change, long sought by Moscow, has alarmed European leaders and raised questions about NATO's future role. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz pushed back, saying: "Russia wants to talk about questions of European security architecture. We don't need to talk about that. There is one," referring to NATO.

After two days of talks with Russian and Ukrainian delegations in Abu Dhabi this week, U.S. envoys briefed Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who was in Dublin to meet European leaders. U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner said more talks are planned as negotiators seek a breakthrough.

European Council President Antonio Costa said after the Dublin meeting that a team of diplomats from the U.K., France, Germany, Italy, Poland and the European Union will be sent to the talks. The session was dominated by European efforts to avoid being sidelined in the U.S.-led negotiations. Kushner, who is also President Donald Trump's son-in-law, said on X that Russia had agreed to include Europe after long insisting its governments be excluded for supporting Ukraine, writing that Europe's presence will allow negotiators "to address the broader postwar European security arrangements alongside the territorial issues between Ukraine and Russia."

European leaders remain wary of Russian maneuvering, as well as Trump's praise for Putin and his administration's sharp criticism of Europe. The EU's top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, said Europe must insist on a ceasefire before talks go further, the opposite of what Putin demands. "If we start to talk about what Russia is asking regarding the security architecture, we actually walk into the traps that Russia is setting us," she said in Dublin. Luxembourg Prime Minister Luc Frieden added: "We cannot let neither the Americans nor the Russians decide about our future." The Institute for the Study of War assessed Thursday that Moscow is aiming "to dismantle NATO and the post-Cold War European security architecture."

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov reaffirmed that Russia is open to contacts with the Europeans. "Once we understand (Europe's) true intentions and their readiness to facilitate the peace process, then it will be possible to make a decision on holding a dialogue regarding a settlement in Ukraine in an expanded format," he said.

Zelenskyy on Friday repeated his complaints about speed limits on the U.S. Starshield system, SpaceX's military-grade version of the Starlink satellite internet service, which he said restrict Ukrainian drones to 161 kph (100 mph) along the entire front line and in Russian-occupied territory. He said that makes it impossible to deploy interceptors effectively against Moscow's fast-moving jet-powered drones. "We still have no clear explanations," he said, adding that Ukrainian officials are asking the U.S. State Department, the Pentagon and SpaceX to clarify and resolve the situation. Elon Musk acknowledged in October that SpaceX had throttled Starlink service in Ukraine for about a week, saying the system could not be used for offensive strikes against Russia, and similar limits last month severely disrupted Ukrainian operations.

Russia's Defense Ministry said air defenses downed 1,198 Ukrainian long-range drones between late Thursday and early Friday, though local officials said strikes on three Russian regions killed seven people, including a 12-year-old, and wounded 17. Ukraine's General Staff said it hit an oil refinery in Volgograd, starting a fire at a facility with a capacity of about 110 million barrels per year. Kyiv has repeatedly targeted Russian refineries and claimed last month it had neutralized more than half of Russia's refining capacity, while its forces use drones and ground robots to help hold the roughly 1,200-kilometer (750-mile) front line in eastern and southeastern Ukraine.

Russia, meanwhile, launched 117 drones against Ukraine overnight, killing at least two people, including a 17-year-old, authorities said. A single Russian attack Friday on southern Zaporizhzhia hit two five-story apartment blocks and wounded 30 people, including six children.

First Deputy Minister of Energy Artem Nekrasov said Russian attacks on energy infrastructure caused widespread power outages across about half of Ukraine's regions on Friday. Moscow has battered Ukraine's power grid each winter of the war in an effort to weaken public morale, in a conflict that analysts and humanitarian organizations say has killed hundreds of thousands of soldiers and thousands of civilians.