Zelensky's Brussels appeal

Volodymyr Zelensky was in Brussels on Friday, 16 October, asking the European Union for 70 billion euros next year to fund Ukraine's defence against Russia. He met NATO chief Mark Rutte and held bilateral talks with European leaders on a new package covering defence, armament and resilience. Donald Trump has said it is easier to negotiate with Vladimir Putin than with Zelensky, and accused him of pushing up fuel prices with strikes on Russian refineries, which Kyiv resumed against Washington's wishes. Zelensky replied that he is only defending Ukraine's interests and that Russia shows no sign of wanting peace.

At a press conference after the European Council summit, Zelensky said the US-Russia agreement on diesel and the lifting of sanctions had surprised everyone, and that Washington should have warned Kyiv beforehand. He said he immediately accepted Trump's energy ceasefire proposal, and asked for anti-ballistic missiles to protect energy sites if Russia kept attacking. Ukraine has received nothing so far, which he called strange. Negotiating teams are in permanent contact and a meeting at a certain level is being arranged.

Strikes on Kyiv's power grid

On the night of 13 to 14 October, Russia launched 39 ballistic missiles and more than 120 drones, according to the Ukrainian government portal United24. Prime Minister Serhii Koretskyi said the attack hit three combined heat and power plants in Kyiv and energy facilities in Kharkiv. The Ukrainian Air Force said it downed only four of the ballistic missiles. Zelensky said at least 600,000 people lost electricity, and Koretskyi's tally put the Kyiv toll at three dead and 26 injured, most of them in a residential building.

Launched (per United24)39

Downed (Ukrainian Air Force)4

Launched (per United24)

39

Downed (Ukrainian Air Force)

4

Data from the article text

The Guardian, citing the Ukrainian outlet Economic Pravda, reports that the capital's three main power plants lost the capacity to generate electricity, while the government has not disclosed the damage to critical infrastructure. The same report cites a document intercepted by Ukrainian intelligence that describes a Russian strategy to "degrade the quality of life" through power cuts and a "complete interruption of water supply". Protests against the outages and lack of heating are planned for Saturday, 17 October. Trump had declared an energy ceasefire, but Russia kept striking the grid as winter approaches.

Patriot stocks run low

Ukraine has run out of Patriot interceptors, the US-made missiles that are among the few systems able to shoot down ballistic missiles, CNN reported, citing a source familiar with the situation. The Washington Post quoted a Ukrainian official saying Ukraine had 10 Patriot interceptors on 7 October, which were used in the attacks that followed, leaving only a few. Production is the bottleneck: the Foreign Policy Research Institute says each PAC-3 interceptor takes about two years to build, and the Washington Post says output could take up to 36 months. The Center for Strategic and International Studies estimates the US has used about half of its 2,200 Patriot interceptors since the war with Iran began. Each interceptor costs about four million dollars and each launcher about eight million.

In July, Ukraine announced a deal with Raytheon to make its own Patriot missiles after winning a green light from Washington. Trump later backed away, saying the US should be very cautious, and the Washington Post says he was frustrated by slow progress in peace talks. Ukraine is also facing failures in Starshield, part of the Starlink satellite network used to communicate with and operate drones at the front.

Voices on the rift

Olena Halushka, a former Kyiv councillor and co-founder of the International Center for Victory of Ukraine, told Expresso that Washington is rewarding aggression instead of raising its costs. Each concession extracted from Ukraine under pressure, she said, strengthens Moscow's belief that escalation pays. Expresso recalled that the United States is a signatory of the 1994 Budapest Memorandum, under which Kyiv gave up the third-largest nuclear arsenal in the world, inherited from the Soviet Union, in exchange for security assurances. Historian Bruno Cardoso Reis, speaking on Observador radio, described Zelensky as a war leader rather than a diplomat, and said Trump's treatment of Putin and Zelensky shows a sharp asymmetry.