President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has accused Russia of stepping up attacks on Ukrainian infrastructure in order to squeeze Kyiv before talks due this week, and said the latest barrage included ballistic missiles made in North Korea.

Ukraine's energy ministry said a large assault on Saturday on several energy sites plunged five regions into darkness and badly disrupted electricity supplies in Kyiv and nearby areas. Zelenskyy said Russia had launched 172 drones and 36 ballistic missiles overnight, among them KN 23 missiles manufactured and supplied by North Korea. He argued that Moscow treats diplomacy as another form of aggression and is trying to weaken Ukraine's position, and that of its partners, before negotiations begin.

Those talks are planned as a United States brokered meeting in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday and Wednesday, the first such three way encounter in months. Ukrainian officials are expected to sit down with Russian negotiators and American envoys. Diplomacy has been largely stalled since February, when Washington turned much of its attention to the war with Iran.

Zelenskyy also appealed for more American help, saying Ukraine still lacks enough interceptor missiles for Patriot air defence batteries and that the United States is best placed to fill the gap.

Russia reported its own losses from Ukrainian drones. Officials in the Belgorod region said one person was killed when a drone hit a private house in the town of Grayvoron. The Russian defence ministry said its forces shot down 411 Ukrainian drones overnight across ten regions, as well as over Crimea and the Black and Azov seas. Russian media later said the Saratov oil refinery had been struck and published pictures of smoke rising over the city.

In Italy, Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said pro Russian hackers had published his personal data on the dark web after he backed Ukraine, and were offering to pay for further details about him and his family. Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni called the trade in private information about public officials a serious concern. Moscow has not commented.