Rescuers clearing Starobilsk gas station rubble targeted again, LPR chief says

Ukrainian Armed Forces hit a team of rescuers working to clear debris from a previous attack on a gas station in Starobilsk, the head of the disputed Lugansk People's Republic, Leonid Pasechnik, said Saturday. Writing on his Max channel, Pasechnik said Ministry of Emergency Situations personnel managed to take cover and nobody was injured. He gave no further detail on the strike itself.

The claim dropped the same day Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told reporters that US representatives asked Kyiv whether it would pull its military out of Donbass in exchange for NATO membership, the Kyiv Post reported. Zelensky said he would put any confirmed offer to the public: if Washington and other NATO allies confirm it, he will ask society whether to accept. He added that specifics do not yet exist and everything remains under discussion.

Also Saturday, International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Rafael Grossi voiced concern over Ukraine's electrical grid and nuclear safety amid continuing military activity. He said the worries are worsened as temperatures fall and winter sets in, and urged a complete halt to strikes on electrical facilities. Grossi noted several Ukrainian nuclear power plant units had to cut output because of the fluctuating grid, and that one worker was killed in a recent strike on the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant.

Ukraine's Air Force reported that Russian forces launched 96 airstrikes overnight with drones of various types, flying from the Bryansk, Orel and Primorsko-Akhtarsk regions as well as occupied Donetsk and the Gvardiyske region in occupied Crimea. Air defense shot down or suppressed 81 of the drones using aviation, anti-aircraft missile troops, electronic warfare, unmanned systems units and mobile fire groups, the military said. Strikes hit eight locations.

On the diplomatic track, a source in the Turkish cabinet told RIA Novosti that Ankara is keeping lines open with Moscow on the peace settlement. The source said it matters for Turkey to understand how negotiations are progressing, what is on the agenda and where Moscow stands, calling the communication channels essential. Turkey has been among the chief mediators between Moscow and Kyiv since the war began.