Russian strikes leave tens of thousands across Ukraine without power, including in the capital Kyiv
Melania Trump-brokered ceasefire limited to Kherson region set to expire
Oleshky civilians arrive in Ukrainian territory from Belarus
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says preparations for talks with US and Russia underway after meeting with Turkey's Recep Tayyip Erdogan
Here is a roundup of events from Russia's war in Ukraine on Saturday and Sunday, October 31 and November 1:
WATCH: European ministers shun Russia at G20
Foreign ministers from countries making up the G20 refused to take part in the traditional group photo with Russia's Sergey Lavrov.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio canceled the event because of the boycott, as Russia's war in Ukraine and Moscow's diplomatic isolation from many Western countries overshadowed the summit.
Why European ministers refused to pose with Russia's Lavrov
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WATCH: Oleshky evacuees recount survival under occupation
Residents evacuated from Russian-occupied Oleshky have arrived in Ukrainian-held territory after a rare localized ceasefire enabled civilians to leave.
Speaking to DW, evacuees described years of isolation, food shortages, and regular shelling, with some saying they survived by eating grass and dogs as supplies ran out.
The rescue operation brought families back together at a reception point in northern Ukraine, where relatives, volunteers, and local residents welcomed the arrivals after their journey through Russia and Belarus.
Oleshky evacuees recount survival under occupation
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Preparations for trilateral talks underway, Zelenskyy says after Erdogan meeting
Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Istanbul on Saturday evening for talks that the Ukrainian president said included preparations for a three-way summit between Ukraine, Russia and the United States.
He said the meeting would be held in the first half of November.
"President Erdogan and I discussed the prospects for this format and other possibilities, including ways to involve Turkey and all of Europe, as well as the possibility of holding meetings here in Turkey," Zelenskyy said.
"At every level, Russia must be sent signals that there is no alternative to peace and that support for Ukraine will not diminish."
Previous rounds of talks between Ukraine and Russia brokered by Turkey failed to yield a lasting peace agreement.
Describing the meetings as "important and substantive," Zelenskyy said he and Erdogan had also discussed security issues concerning shipping through the Black Sea.
"This includes food security, and today President Erdogan and I agreed to work on a Black Sea grain corridor to ensure that the corridor exists and operates effectively," the Ukrainian leader told a press conference.
Lavrov sets conditions for talks with Zelenskyy at G20 meeting
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Melania Trump-brokered ceasefire for Kherson set to expire
Some 750 civilians were due to be evacuated from Oleshky during the truce, Melania Trump had saidImage: Evgeniy Maloletka/AP Photo/picture allianceA ceasefire limited to the Kherson region in eastern Ukraine that was brokered by US First Lady Melania Trump was set to expire on Sunday evening, after neither Russia nor Ukraine announced an extension.
The rare truce, which began on Tuesday, is the longest since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
The ceasefire allowed for a humanitarian mission to the Russian-occupied city of Oleshky.
While neither side reported violations of the ceasefire, Russian strikes continued overnight, with fresh power outages reported across Ukraine on Sunday, its energy ministry and president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.
Ukrainian strikes on the Russian-occupied region of Luhansk killed at least four people since Sunday evening, Russian-backed local authorities said.
Russian strikes leave vast numbers of Ukrainian homes without power
Power outages due to Russian attacks have become a regular occurrence for many UkrainiansImage: Tetiana Dzhafarova/AFPHundreds of thousands of households lost electricity after overnight Russian strikes hit energy infrastructure in four Ukrainian regions, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said.
In a post on X, the Ukrainian president said energy infrastructure in four regions — Dnipro, Vinnytsia, Zhytomyr, and Khmelnytskyi — had been struck.
"Substations, transformers, and power lines that supply electricity to our people's homes were targeted. Repair crews are working everywhere. As of now, hundreds of thousands of families remain without power," Zelenskyy said Sunday.
He added that "massive Russian attacks on Ukraine's other critical infrastructure are also continuing unabated."
"The intensity of the strikes is very high," he said, accusing Russia of seeking to exploit Ukraine's shortage of interceptors used to shoot down ballistic missiles.
Zelenskyy repeated his call to the US, Europe and Ukraine's other partners to do more to deliver missiles and other weaponry to better defend against the Russian attacks.
"These deliveries cannot take years. Russia is destroying infrastructure and killing our people right now, and it is betting on ballistic missiles this winter. Accordingly, decisions on air defense must also be implemented now," the Ukrainian president said.
Kremlin wants initial Ukraine talks without Europe
Russia wants the opening rounds of renewed peace negotiations to involve only Moscow, Kyiv and Washington, Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said.
Asked whether European countries should participate, Ushakov pointed to Russia's existing contacts with the United States.
"We have working contacts with the Americans," Interfax quoted him as saying. It was therefore "logical" for at least the first rounds to take place in a trilateral format, he added.
Russia reports major damage after drone attack near refinery
A drone attack caused "significant damage" to an industrial facility east of Moscow, a Russian governor said, following Ukrainian reports of a strike on a major oil refinery.
Nizhny Novgorod Governor Gleb Nikitin reported a "massive drone attack" overnight, saying more than 100 drones were destroyed. Preliminary information indicated no casualties, he added.
Nikitin did not identify the damaged facility. Ukrainian media reported that the target was the Kstovo oil refinery, describing it as one of Russia's largest.
The reports could not be independently verified.
Ukrainian media reported that the target was the Kstovo oil refinery in Nizhny NovgorodImage: Serguei Fomine/Russian Look/picture allianceAuthorities said they were taking steps to keep fuel available at gas stations.
Russia said Ukraine had resumed attacks on its refineries after a pause. US President Donald Trump had pressured Kyiv to stop such strikes, blaming them for rising diesel prices.
Ukraine has repeatedly targeted Russian oil and gas facilities in response to Russian attacks on its energy infrastructure.
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IN PHOTOS: Evacuees reunite with family after fleeing Oleshky
Ukraine spent months demanding that Russia allow people to evacuate out of Oleshky in southern Ukraine, after food delivery supplies stopped earlier this year.
Hundreds of people made their way out on Saturday.
Residents of Russian-occupied Oleshky crossed into Ukrainian-held territory on Saturday in a major evacuation operation carried out under a US-brokered ceasefire.Image: Genya Savilov/AFP Evacuees wrapped in blue and yellow Ukrainian flags stepped off buses at the Ukrainian-Belarusian border and reunited with family members.Image: Genya Savilov/AFP The ceasefire in Ukraine’s southern Kherson region began early Tuesday and was expected to continue through Sunday evening.Image: Efrem Lukatsky/AP Photo/dpa/picture allianceWadephul says Europe and US are 'on the same side' on Russia
"Speaking to the Russian Foreign Minister is not a concession we're making to Russia, but it is normal to speak," German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul told DW when asked about normalizing relations with Russia.Image: Michael Kappeler/dpa/picture allianceAt a news conference after the G20 foreign ministers' meeting in Atlanta, DW correspondent Benjamin Alvarez Gruber asked German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul whether Sergey Lavrov's presence and the possibility of Russian President Vladimir Putin attending the G20 summit in Doral, Florida, in December signaled a normalization of relations with Russia.
Wadephul said the US and European countries were "on the same side."
"Speaking to the Russian Foreign Minister is not a concession we're making to Russia, but it is normal to speak," he said, adding that foreign ministers must be prepared to engage even with adversaries.
"You don't have to negotiate with partners, but you have to negotiate with somebody who has a different position and who's somehow also an adversary to freedom and to security in Europe. So it is necessary that we speak, and for that reason I think it was useful," Wadephul added.
The G20 foreign ministers skipped their traditional family photo at a meeting in Atlanta on Friday, amid objections from several European countries, Australia and Canada to appearing alongside Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
Wadephul said: "We are not in a position that it was necessary or useful or a good idea to have a family photo because in the very situation we are in, Russia does not really show an interest to share our values and to share our interests."
The US State Department removed the photo from the agenda to prevent it from becoming a distraction or a spectacle.
Zelenskyy in Istanbul for talks on Black Sea shipping
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has arrived in Istanbul for talks with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, with Black Sea shipping among the issues on the agenda.
"We're working to strengthen the protection of our people, our bilateral partnership with Türkiye, and real diplomatic prospects," Zelenskyy wrote on X, using the alternative spelling for Turkey.
The Ukrainian president also plans to meet Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, the Istanbul-based Orthodox Christian leader.
US warns Russia of a 'mass casualty' plot to attack Moscow
The US embassy in Russia warned there was "a credible threat of a mass casualty event" at a historical site in southern Moscow.
"The US government is coordinating with appropriate Russian authorities on a response," the US embassy in Moscow said in a post on X.
The alleged plot would target the Tsaritsyno Museum Reserve, a sprawling complex of palaces and gardens built under the orders of Empress Catherine the Great in the late 18th century.
Russia's federal law enforcement agency, the FSB, said it received the warning and was doing "appropriate work" in response to it, according to Russian news agencies.
Ukraine says it hit Russian rocket fuel factory
Ukrainian forces published satellite images showing the alleged impact of their attackImage: Generalstab der Streitkräfte der Ukraine/TelegramUkraine's military said it struck a factory producing solid rocket fuel in Russia's Rostov region, setting a warehouse ablaze and damaging four production workshops.
The attack on the Kamensky plant in Kamensk-Shakhtinsky involved drones and Neptune missiles, according to the Ukrainian account.