Russia launched a massive missile and drone attack on Ukraine overnight, after US and Ukrainian officials said they would meet for a third day of talks aimed at bringing the war to an end.

The two sides said they had made progress on a security framework for post-war Ukraine, but that any “real progress toward any agreement” will depend “on Russia’s readiness to show serious commitment to long-term peace.”

Russia launched 653 drones and 51 missiles in its attack on Ukraine, triggering air raid alerts across the country, Ukraine’s air force said.

Ukrainian forces shot down and neutralised 585 drones and 30 missiles, the air force said, adding that 29 locations were struck.

At least eight people were wounded in the attacks, Ukraine’s minister of internal affairs Ihor Klymenko said.

Russia conducted a “massive missile-drone attack” on power stations and other energy infrastructure in several regions, Ukraine’s national energy operator Ukrenergo said on Instagram.

Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant temporarily lost all off-site power overnight, the International Atomic Energy Agency said.

The plant is in an area that has been under Russian control since early in Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. It is not in service, but needs reliable power to cool its six shutdown reactors and spent fuel in order to avoid any catastrophic nuclear incidents.

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Zelenskyy condemns ‘meaningless’ strikes

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy condemned the strikes as “meaningless” from a military point of view.

He said energy facilities were the main targets, but a drone strike had “burned down” a train station in the city of Fastiv, in the Kyiv region.

“The Russians’ goal is to hurt millions of Ukrainians, and they have sunk so low that they are launching missiles at peaceful cities on St. Nicholas Day,” he said.

“That is why additional pressure is needed. Sanctions must work, and so must our air defence, which means we must continue to support those who defend our lives.”

Ukraine strikes oil refinery

Meanwhile, Russia’s defence ministry said its air defences had shot down 116 Ukrainian drones over Russian territory overnight.

The General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces said Ukrainian forces had struck Russia’s Ryazan Oil Refinery, while Russian Telegram news channel Astra shared footage appearing to show a fire breaking out and plumes of smoke rising above the refinery.

Over the last few months, Ukraine has used long-range drones to target Russian refineries in an attempt to deprive Moscow of the oil export revenue it needs to continue the war.

Meanwhile, Kyiv and its Western allies say Russia is trying to cripple Ukraine’s power grid and deny civilians access to heat, light and running water in winter, which Ukrainian officials call “weaponising” the cold.

On Monday, Mr Zelenskyy will meet Sir Keir Starmer in London to discuss the ongoing negotiations mediated by the US, along with French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz.

At least 50 people, including 33 children, have been killed in southern Sudan after a drone attack by paramilitary forces hit a nursery in South Kordofan state.

Sudan Doctors’ Network says paramedics on the scene in the town of Kalogi were also targeted by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in a “second unexpected attack”.

Rights group Emergency Lawyers reported a “third civilian site” near the previous two attacks was also targeted.

The death toll is expected to be higher, but communication blackouts have made it difficult to confirm the full number of casualties.

Emergency Lawyers says the strikes are a “flagrant violation of international humanitarian law, including the protection of civilians, especially children, and vital civilian infrastructure.”

UNICEF has urged both parties to stop the attacks immediately and allow safe access for humanitarian aid.

“Killing children in their school is a horrific violation of children’s rights,” said UNICEF representative for Sudan Sheldon Yett.

“Children should never pay the price of conflict.”

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The attack on the nursery is among the latest in the two-year conflict between the RSF and Sudan’s military, where the focus has recently shifted to the oil-rich Kordofan states.

Hundreds of civilians have been killed in the last few weeks as fighting shifted from Darfur, following the RSF’s violent takeover of the city of Al Fashir, which was marked with civilians being executed, rapes, sexual assaults and other atrocities.

Thousands managed to escape the violence, but thousands more are trapped or feared killed.

Meanwhile, Sudanese military aerial strikes last weekend killed at least 48 people, mostly civilians, in South Kordofan.

The RSF has also accused the military of carrying out a drone strike on the border with Chad, posting a video showing billowing black smoke.

The Associated Press has been unable to verify the video or whether there were any casualties, while Sudan’s military also hasn’t commented.

The RSF and the Sudanese military have been fighting for power over the country since 2023, which has seen more than 40,000 people killed, according to the World Health Organisation, although the real death toll is expected to be higher. 12 million people have been displaced.

The 3D picture we’re shown of Maryam’s skull shows a gaping hole.

It’s astonishing the young girl from Gaza even survived an Israeli bombing near her home.

But she’s sitting up in her hospital bed in the Jordanian capital Amman, as we look on and she’s smiling and joking during a call with her father who remains in the Palestinian territory.

“I’m okay,” she says cheerily, “how are you?”

She’s heard overnight there’s been severe flooding in Gaza and the tents and makeshift shelters which tens of thousands are living in, are now soaked and under water.

But her father is focussed on how his 12-year-old daughter is feeling ahead of yet another life-saving brain operation.

Maryam is a rarity.

She is one of a few hundred patients who’ve been allowed by the Israeli authorities to leave the Gaza Strip to receive critical medical help since the October 2025 agreement signed between Israel and Hamas, which was aimed at ending hostilities.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) says they’ve identified nearly 16,000 medical cases needing urgent critical care outside Gaza.

WHO data documented a total of 217 patients who left Gaza for medical care in other countries between the dates of 13 October and 26 November 2025.

Since then, Israel’s Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) has said a further 72 patients and caregivers from Gaza have departed the Israeli-occupied area for Jordan.

But behind them, they left a long queue of ill and wounded people in desperate need of the sort of specialised medical help Maryam Ibrahim is receiving in Jordan.

Having survived the bombing and having survived the craniectomy (removing her fractured skull), Maryam’s next challenge was surviving the wait to receive permission to leave Gaza for the surgery which offered her a chance of long-term survival.

She waited almost half a year for this operation: an operation considered vital.

Without it, Maryam’s brain was unprotected. Any stumble or accident risked irreversibly injuring her brain and negatively impacting her neurological functions – a risk which was considerably heightened given where she’s living.

The Palestine Children’s Relief Fund (PCRF) which has funded her medical care in Jordan says they’ve “witnessed at first hand the catastrophic toll of this conflict on children’s health and well-being.

“Thousands have been orphaned, maimed or left with lifelong trauma. Entire hospitals and health centres have been destroyed leaving an entire population of children without access to even the most basic medical care.”

While humanitarian organisations continue to encounter challenges in organising evacuations from Gaza, two British surgeons were amongst a group of medics refused permission by the Israeli authorities to enter the territory.

Dr Victoria Rose, a plastic and reconstructive surgeon with the IDEALS charity, told Sky News: “WHO calculated that in 2025, only 47% of emergency medical teams were granted entry to Gaza.

“This is at a time when hundreds of local doctors have been detained by the IDF with many still unaccounted for. Gaza does not have the manpower to cope with the numbers of injured.”

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Maryam’s case received widespread publicity after the intervention of the popular American children’s educator and YouTuber Rachel Griffin Accurso known as “Ms Rachel”.

She highlighted her case by talking to the little girl via Instagram after Maryam posted about how she was being bullied for her unusual appearance because of her cranial injury.

Maryam’s family realise she’s been unusually fortunate to receive this specialised care, but they know too that as soon as Maryam is well enough, the little girl will be returned to Gaza and an unpredictable future.

The Israeli authorities continue to insist via X that they are helping to organise humanitarian aid into Gaza and are committed to “facilitating a humanitarian-medical response” – which includes establishing field hospitals.

They have repeatedly suggested that it is the lack of coordination on the part of various countries and organisations which is the issue – but this runs counter to what multiple humanitarian groups and individuals have experienced.