Power was restored to over 800,000 residents in Kyiv on Saturday, a day after Russia launched major attacks on the Ukrainian power grid that caused blackouts across much of the country, and European leaders agreed to proceed toward using hundreds of billions of frozen Russian assets to support Ukraine’s war effort.
Ukraine’s largest private energy company, DTEK, said “the main work to restore the power supply” had been completed, but that some localized outages were still affecting the Ukrainian capital following Friday’s “massive” Russian attacks.
Russian drone and missile strikes wounded at least 20 people in Kyiv, damaged residential buildings and triggered blackouts across swaths of Ukraine early Friday.
Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko described the attack as “one of the largest concentrated strikes” against Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.
Russia’s Defense Ministry on Friday said the strikes had targeted energy facilities supplying Ukraine’s military. It did not give details of those facilities, but said Russian forces used Kinzhal hypersonic missiles and strike drones against them.
Ukraine’s air force said Saturday that its air defenses intercepted or jammed 54 of 78 Russian drones launched against Ukraine overnight, while Russia’s defense ministry said it had shot down 42 Ukrainian drones over Russian territory.
At least two people were killed and five wounded in airstrikes on Kostiantynivka, a city in Ukraine’s Donetsk region Saturday, regional Gov. Vadim Filashkin said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Saturday that he had a “very positive and productive” phone call with U.S. President Donald Trump.
In a post on X, Zelenskyy said he told Trump about Russian attacks on Ukraine’s energy system, and that the two discussed opportunities to strengthen Ukraine’s air defense. “There needs to be readiness on the Russian side to engage in real diplomacy — this can be achieved through strength,” Zelenskyy wrote.
Ukraine's energy sector has been a key battleground since Russia launched its all-out invasion more than three years ago.
Each year, Russia has tried to cripple the Ukrainian power grid before the bitter winter season, apparently hoping to erode public morale. Winter temperatures run from late October through March, with January and February the coldest months.
Zelenskyy said in his nightly address Friday that Russia was taking advantage of the world being “almost entirely focused on the prospect of establishing peace in the Middle East,” and called for strengthening Ukraine’s air defense systems and tighter sanctions on Russia.
"Russian assets must be fully used to strengthen our defense and ensure recovery," he said in the video, posted to X.
Meanwhile, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said in a joint statement on Friday they were ready to move toward using “in a coordinated way, the value of the immobilized Russian sovereign assets to support Ukraine’s armed forces and thus bring Russia to the negotiation table.”
The statement added they aimed to do this “in close cooperation with the United States.”
Ukraine’s budget and military needs for 2026 and 2027 are estimated to total around 130 billion euros ($153 billion). The European Union has already poured in 174 billion euros (about $202 billion) since the war started in February 2022.
The biggest pot of ready funds available is through frozen Russian assets, most of which is held in Belgium — around 194 billion euros ($225 billion) as of June – and outside the EU in Japan, with around $50 billion, and the U.S., the United Kingdom and Canada with lesser amounts.
Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
Emergency services personnel work to extinguish a fire following a Russian attack in Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, Oct. 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Dan Bashakov)
The New York Giants hired John Harbaugh as coach on Saturday, a person with knowledge of the situation told The Associated Press.
The person spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because the move had not been announced. The sides began working on a contract Wednesday night when it became clear that Harbaugh was the right fit.
Harbaugh joins the Giants 11 days after he was fired by the Baltimore Ravens, who made the playoffs 12 times with him in charge and won the Super Bowl in the 2012 season. They fell short of the postseason this year because of a missed kick at the buzzer in Week 18, leading ownership to make an change and put Harbaugh on the market.
General manager Joe Schoen and the Giants pounced, bringing on a proven winner with significant NFL head-coaching experience. Harbaugh was flown in on co-owner Steve Tisch’s private plane earlier this week, spent several hours at the team facility in East Rutherford, New Jersey, spoke with young quarterback Jaxson Dart and got wined and dined at nearby Elia Mediterranean Restaurant.
With the courting process complete, Harbaugh is now tasked with turning around the beleaguered franchise that has made just two playoff appearances over the past 12 years and not made it past the divisional round. Todd Monken could follow him from Baltimore to be offensive coordinator, unless he takes a head-coaching gig in Cleveland or elsewhere.
Harbaugh got the job over the likes of Kevin Stefanski, Mike McCarthy, Raheem Morris and Antonio Pierce, leapfrogging some of expected front-runners who got shuffled back as soon as the 63-year-old became available. The chance to work for stable ownership and Dart made New York an attractive landing spot over other places such as Tennessee, Atlanta and Miami.
The Giants have talented pieces in place on either side of the ball, including running back Cam Skattebo, receiver Malik Nabers and left tackle Andrew Thomas on offense, plus pass rushers Brian Burns and Abdul Carter and nose tackle Dexter Lawrence on defense. They have the fifth pick in the draft to add to that stockpile.
Changing the culture of losing that has pervaded the Meadowlands for the better part of the last decade is now on Harbaugh’s shoulders. Counting playoff games, the seven coaches who followed 2007 and ’11 Super Bowl champion Tom Coughlin have gone 45-105-1, a winning percentage of .300.
Harbaugh is 193-124 in 317 games in the league, a .609 winning percentage, since taking over the Ravens in 2008. He spent the previous 10 seasons as an assistant with Philadelphia, mostly as special teams coordinator and then defensive backs coach.
Schoen, after finding out from Tisch and co-owner John Mara that he was returning for a fifth year as GM, said the search would not be limited to just offensive- or defensive-minded options. While Harbaugh comes from a special teams background, he provides the kind of all-around coaching Schoen was believed to be looking for, along with a championship pedigree and a reputation that should garner him immediate respect within the locker room.
This is Schoen’s second hire after bringing Brian Daboll with him from Buffalo, where both were assistants with the Bills, in January 2022. Ownership fired Daboll on Nov. 10 after the Giants lost eight of the first 10 games in his fourth season as coach.
Mike Kafka coached out the string as the interim replacement after being promoted from offensive coordinator, and the team lost five in a row before winning its final two games to finish with a 4-13 record. Kafka interviewed but was never a serious candidate for the full-time job.
Almost no one was compared with Harbaugh, giving the Giants an off-field win that might be their biggest of any kind in several years.
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FILE - Baltimore Ravens head coach John Harbaugh looks on from the sideline during the second half of an NFL football game against the New England Patriots, Sunday, Dec. 21, 2025, in Baltimore. (AP Photo/Terrance Williams, File)
FILE -Baltimore Ravens owner Stephen J. Bisciotti, right, holds up the Vince Lombardi Trophy as he and head coach John Harbaugh celebrate the team's 34-31win against the San Francisco 49ers in the NFL Super Bowl XLVII football game, Sunday, Feb. 3, 2013, in New Orleans. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum, File)
FILE - Baltimore Ravens head coach John Harbaugh speaks during a press conference after an NFL football game against the Cincinnati Bengals, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025, in Cincinnati. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File)
Baltimore Ravens head coach John Harbaugh speaks during a news conference after an NFL football game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, Sunday, Jan. 4, 2026, in Pittsburgh. (AP Photo/Justin Berl)
