Ukraine sent talks proposal to Russia, Zelenskyy says

Kyiv has formally proposed a new round of peace talks with Moscow, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced on Saturday evening.

The proposal is for talks to be held next week, Zelenskyy said in his nightly address, adding that the "momentum of the negotiations must be stepped up."

"Security Council Secretary Umerov also reported that he had proposed the next meeting with the Russian side for next week," Zelenskyy said.

He added that the pace of negotiations should be increased and "everything should be done to achieve a ceasefire."

Kyiv has accused Moscow of "weaponizing" deportations after evacuating 43 Ukrainian citizens from a Georgian holding site.

Kyiv says dozens of its citizens — most of them prisoners thrown out of Russia after having served their sentences — were being held in a basement facility near the Georgia-Russian border. 

On Saturday, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said that 43 individuals had been evacuated from Georgia via Moldova.  

Sybiha, writing on X, said most of those brought home, among them former political prisoner Andrii Kolomiyets, had been stripped of their identification documents and abandoned in "difficult" conditions hundreds of miles from Ukraine.   

Maria Belkina, who heads Volunteers Tbilisi — a group helping Ukrainian refugees in Georgia — called conditions at the border detention site, which has only 17 beds, "inhumane." 

"They are without basic necessities — food, water, sanitation," Belkina told the French AFP news agency, adding that "some deportees had medical conditions, including suspected tuberculosis and HIV."

"Since June, Russia has significantly increased the number of deported Ukrainian nationals, mostly former convicts, to the border with Georgia," Foreign Minister Sybiha wrote in his X post.

Kyiv has requested that Moscow deport citizens directly to Ukraine rather than distant third-countries.

Rights groups say as many as 800 more Ukrainian citizens could be deported in the coming weeks.

Australia's government has said it is in the process of delivering 49 US-made Abrams M1A1 tanks to Ukraine.

The tanks, worth $160 million (€138 million), are part of a $980 million Australian military aid package for Kyiv.

Ukraine has already received a number of the tanks with the rest scheduled to arrive over the coming months. 

Australian Defense Minister Richard Marles said, "The M1A1 Abrams tanks will make a significant contribution to Ukraine’s ongoing fight against Russia's illegal and immoral invasion." 

Australia is one of Ukraine's biggest non-NATO supporters, supplying aid, ammunition and military equipment. Canberra has also banned the export of all alumina and aluminum ore — including bauxite — to Russia, as well as sanctioning some 1,000 Russian individuals and entities.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Saturday said that Russian forces had fired some 300 drones and 30 missiles overnight.

The tirade killed one person in the port city of Odesa and damaged critical infrastructure in the northeastern city of Sumy. 

Zelenskyy posted a video and pictures of flaming buildings and firefighters to his Telegram account writing that the attacks in Sumy had knocked out power to thousands of homes in the region. 

The mayor of Odesa, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, said a high-rise in the city had been engulfed in flames and that emergency services and firefighters were battling fires and searching for injured citizens. 

"Odesa was attacked by enemy strike drones — more than 20 UAVs approached the city from different directions," wrote Odesa Mayor Gennadiy Trukhanov on Telegram.

"Civilian infrastructure was damaged as a result of the attack. A residential high-rise building is on fire," added the mayor.

Russia's Defense Ministry on Saturday said it had successfully downed 87 Ukrainian drones over central, western and southern parts of the country, with 48 downed near the Ukrainian border in Bryansk. 

Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin also said that air defenses had down 13 drones headed for the capital had been downed after midnight.

Sobyanin said that specialists were examining fragments where they hit the ground.

Welcome to DW's coverage of the latest developments in Russia's war in Ukraine.

This Saturday, we start with another massive Russian air assault 

In Russia, authorities say they downed more than 80 Ukrainian drones, a dozen of which were headed for the capital Moscow.

Russia has seemingly increased its barrage against Ukraine amid faltering attempts by US President Donald Trump to secure a ceasefire deal.

Stay tuned for more news and analysis