Zelensky rebukes officials over Kyiv region outages as Kallas warns on Russia talks

President Volodymyr Zelensky criticised Ukrainian officials on Friday, Nov. 13, after residents of Bila Tserkva and Brovary spent days without electricity while local authorities provided misleading reports.

In his evening address, Zelensky described the situation in the two cities in Kyiv region as "absolutely unacceptable", revealing that he had confronted government officials during a coordination meeting over the prolonged outages.

DTEK chief executive Maxim Timchenko warned that Russia's intensified missile and drone attacks could cause far greater damage to Ukraine's energy infrastructure this winter.

Zelensky also said US-operated Starshield restrictions remain in place along Ukraine's front line and across Russian-occupied territory, hampering Ukrainian drone defences. He said the defence minister and commander-in-chief had confirmed that speed restrictions were continuing to undermine efforts to intercept Russian jet-powered Shahed drones.

The bipartisan Congressional Ukraine Caucus, speaking on behalf of 105 House members, demanded that the Trump administration and SpaceX explain the disruptions and restore full access. Two US senators called for congressional oversight, while SpaceX denied making changes to its service.

In Dublin, EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas warned Europe against falling into Russia's negotiating trap by discussing Moscow's security demands before securing a ceasefire in Ukraine. She rejected Russia's claims of security concerns and called for Europe to present its own maximum demands. She also pushed back against Kremlin opposition to her participation in peace negotiations.

Kallas told reporters ahead of an informal EU leaders' meeting in Dublin that "we have one aggressor and one victim," and the aggressor does not have legitimate security concerns, noting that nobody has ever attacked Russia while Russia has attacked others.