Ukraine-Russia war latest: Putin’s ‘new doctrine’ aimed at targeting Ukraine’s civilian sites, Zelensky says

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Ukraine's intelligence services has obtained documents showing that Russian leader Vladimir Putin had issued a "new doctrine" of military attacks on a much broader range of civilian targets ahead of this winter, president ​Volodymyr Zelensky said.

Ukraine will double down on attacking Russian oil refineries in response to a new policy of airstrikes by Moscow designed to force people to abandon Kyiv and other cities, but will not target civilians, he said.

"We saw documents ‌and we know that they allow them to attack infrastructure, logistics, and especially to attack in the cities, in the villages, everywhere, roads, schools, hospitals," Zelensky told Reuters in an interview.

The Kremlin was not available to comment. But the Russian Foreign Ministry said Moscow would continue to ​systematically hit targets in what it said were retaliatory strikes for Ukrainian attacks on Russia in recent months.

Earlier, the Northern Bridge across the Dnipro river in the capital Kyiv was hit during a Russian air attack, mayor Vitali ⁠Klitschko said. Emergency services were deployed to the scene and traffic across the bridge from the east to the west bank was suspended following damage to the road surface and the overhead trolleybus cables.

Ukraine has described India's proposal for a possible ceasefire with Russia as the "broadest" among four offers received by Kyiv, according to reports.

Ukrainian foreign minister Andrii Sybiha said: “We have four proposals. The broadest one is India’s proposal. We are ready for an energy and Black Sea ceasefire, but only in this combination.”

Sybiha was speaking to reporters in Kyiv, according to European Pravda newspaper.

The other proposals were from Turkey, Egypt and the US.

Ukrainian officials warn Russia has stockpiled hundreds of ballistic missiles ahead of an expected winter onslaught against electricity and water infrastructure.

Last winter, the worst of the war, Russian strikes left swathes of the country without electricity and heating for days at a time.

Since the summer, Moscow has also begun launching dozens of fast and relatively cheap jet-powered Shahed drones a day at Ukraine, whose air defence teams have struggled to cope because their interceptor drones were too slow to catch them.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukraine had been forced to rely heavily on its fighter aircraft – F-16s ​and MiGs – to down around 60 per cent of the Russian jet-powered drones, ​but supplies of 20mm ammunition for the planes were ⁠running low.

Kyiv was urgently working on other solutions – including boosting its electronic jamming capabilities, he said. In the second half of October, it would receive the first shipment of small, cheap air defence missiles capable of hitting the new Shaheds.

Last week, Zelensky said Ukraine was developing five models of new interceptor drones capable of downing the jet Shaheds.

Fresh from a meeting with his defence chiefs, he ​said tests on two of those models showed a modest success rate of around 30 per cent.

"We'll have to scale it," he said. "I hope that with all these things, with all these elements, we'll ​find a way."

After the Trump administration invited Vladimir Putin to attend a G20 summit in ​Miami in December and discussed business deals with Russian envoys, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky urged Washington not to normalise relations with Russia before ensuring a return to peace.

Zelensky said he would be happy to meet Putin for peace talks at the G20, but he warned the US not ​to believe in "illusions" that Russia would simply end hostilities if it gained control of Donbas.

"It's not fair just to normalise," said Zelensky, dressed in his trademark black T-shirt and military-style jacket.

Any resumption of economic and diplomatic ties with the West had to be in return for Russia ending ‌hostilities, he said: "Because ⁠peace is more important than any kind of economy."

While the US has proposed a resumption of trilateral talks in the coming weeks in the UAE, Zelensky noted that an exact date and location for the technical-level conversations had still not been set.

Germany's chancellor Friedrich Merz arrived in Kyiv today, pledging support for Ukraine.

Merz arrived along with the chiefs of German defence companies, in a show of support for president Volodymyr Zelensky amid escalating Russian attacks.

"I ​travelled ⁠to Kyiv ‌today because Ukraine needs all our support in ‌the coming ‌weeks," the German chancellor said.

"If Russia is not stopped, sooner or later its war machine will ‌turn against ​us,” he said, adding that Ukraine can “count on our help”.

Latvia’s pro-Ukraine prime minister Andris Kulbergs' United List party has won the country’s parliamentary election held yesterday by a wide margin.

The election was held in the shadow of the Russia-Ukraine war, with many voters on edge amid warnings of potential Russian aggression.

Baltic countries have warned for months that Russia is mounting sabotage, cyber and other hybrid attacks across Europe to erode support for Ukraine and sow fear.

But Western officials dismiss concerns that Moscow is capable of launching a direct assault on Nato, of which Latvia is also a member.

Russia has dismissed such accusations as baseless and the result of anti-Russian hysteria.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said a successful Ukrainian counteroffensive, code-named "Vivaldi", had recaptured around 140sqkm (54sqm) of Ukraine's eastern ​Donbas region and was still ongoing.

Russia has said it must control Donbas in its entirety as a condition for any peace deal.

In recent weeks, US president Donald Trump's administration has sought to ⁠revive talks to end the four-year-old conflict – Europe's bloodiest since Second World War.

The US leader last month urged Ukraine to refrain from hitting Russian oil installations, saying that was sending global diesel prices surging.

But Zelensky, speaking as air raid sirens blared outside the gilded halls of ​the presidential offices, said he had received no indications from Russia that Putin was interested in peace talks, or discussing a ceasefire on energy infrastructure.

Ukraine's intelligence services has obtained documents showing that Russian leader Vladimir Putin had issued a "new doctrine" of military attacks on a much broader range of civilian targets ahead of this winter, president ​Volodymyr Zelensky said.

Ukraine will double down on attacking Russian oil refineries in response to the new policy of airstrikes designed to force people to abandon Kyiv and other cities, but will not target civilians, Zelensky said.

"We saw documents ‌and we know that they allow them to attack infrastructure, logistics, and especially to attack in the cities, in the villages, everywhere, roads, schools, hospitals," Zelensky told Reuters in an interview.

"To pressure people to leave the capital, leave different cities: this is the goal of the operation."

The Kremlin was not available to comment on Saturday. But in a statement urging foreign nationals to leave Kyiv, the Russian Foreign Ministry said Moscow would continue to ​systematically hit targets in what it said were retaliatory strikes for Ukrainian attacks on Russia in recent months.

The situation of civilians in the Russia-occupied Ukrainian town of Oleshky is “appalling”, the European Union has warned.

"What is ‌happening in Oleshky, Ukraine, is appalling. Civilians ‌are trapped under ‌siege by Russian forces without access to ⁠food, medicine, clean water and basic care,” EU commissioner Hadja Lahbib said yesterday.

“This is unacceptable...Russia, as occupying power, has clear obligations under international humanitarian law: civilians must be protected, and humanitarian assistance must be facilitated," she said.

Poland, Belgium and Spain have agreed to supply 20mm rounds for cannons on Ukraine's F-16 jet fighters, Ukrainian foreign minister Andrii Sybiha said.

Ukraine is anticipating a potential agreement on the supply of "several million" rounds of this ammunition in the near future, Sybiha said, adding that Kyiv also needed at least 300 Patriot interceptor missiles to bring down Russia's ballistic missiles.

The foreign minister said Moscow could be making 120 to 140 ballistic missiles each month, with 600 already in its stocks.

South Korean leader Lee has accused Ukraine of making him look like “a liar” by contradicting his earlier claim about a non-disclosure agreement with Kyiv.

Lee said on X that Seoul would take “additional measures” if Ukraine refused to admit the existence of the non-disclosure agreement and apologise publicly.

The diplomatic row between South Korea and Ukraine has emerged after Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy appeared to reveal a secret deal in which Kyiv would transfer North Korean prisoners of war to Seoul.

“This is a matter concerning the honour of the Republic of Korea’s people and nation; we cannot overlook it,” Lee said.