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Kyiv residents huddled against bitter winter cold inside their unheated apartments Saturday as engineers struggled to restore power, water and heat knocked out in the latest salvo of Russian strikes.Russia has regularly conducted intense bombardments of Ukraine's energy system since it invaded its neighbour in 2022.The war's fourth winter could be the coldest and darkest yet, with the accumulated damage to the grid bringing utilities to the brink, and temperatures already below -10° Celsius (14°F) and set to plunge further this week.Saturday Kyiv's heat, power and water, hit hard by a strike two nights earlier, were shut down again as engineers tried to repair the ruined power grid.Galina Turchin, a 71-year-old pensioner living on Kyiv's badly affected eastern bank, had a window covered by plastic sheeting after it was blown out when drone debris hit another part of her building during the last overnight attack.She said she had not cooked food for two days, eating whatever had been left in their kitchen before the power, water and heat went out, and would now try to cook on a gas camping stove."We hope they will give us heat. If not power, then at least heat," she said, standing wrapped in layers of jumpers in her kitchen.The city administration said around noon local time (1000 GMT) Saturday that the state grid operator Ukrenergo had ordered the city's power system to be shut down, and that the water and heating systems, as well as electrified public transport, would also stop working as a result.Less than an hour later, Ukrenergo said engineers had managed to remedy the immediate issue, which had been caused by damage from previous Russian strikes, and that power was coming back online in parts of Kyiv.Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko said the heating system, which in Ukrainian cities is centralised and pumps hot water to homes in pipes, was also coming back on, and that she expected heat supply to be fully restored.However, she said that the power situation in the capital was still difficult, as the grid was badly damaged and people were using more electric heaters because of the cold.On Friday, with about half of Kyiv's apartment blocks left without heating after the latest Russian missile and drone attack, Mayor Vitali Klitschko urged residents who had a warm place to go to temporarily leave the city.Turchin, the pensioner in her cold apartment, said she had a village cottage in another region but it was unheated and would take three days to warm up with logs."The neighbour wrote. She said it was already -17° (Celsius) there last night." 

Icy temperatures plunged swathes of Europe into a second day of travel chaos Tuesday, with weather-related accidents causing six deaths from the continent’s bitterest cold snap this winter so far.Five of those deaths since the mercury dropped on Monday were in France alone, while a woman died in Bosnia as heavy snow and rain sparked floods and power outages across the Balkans.Paris’s two main airports, Roissy-Charles de Gaulle and Orly, were to cancel many flights early Wednesday to allow ground crews to clear snow from runways and de-ice planes.Forty percent of flights at Charles de Gaulle were to be scrapped, and 25% at Orly.In Britain, temperatures plunged to -12.5C overnight Monday-Tuesday in Norfolk, eastern England, while temperatures below -10C across the Netherlands brought trains to a standstill on Tuesday morning.“Last night was the coldest night of the winter so far,” Britain’s Met Office said, with nearly all of the United Kingdom on alert for snow and ice and more snowfall expected.With the chill making roads perilous, three people died in accidents linked to black ice in southwestern France on Monday morning, authorities said, while a taxi driver died in hospital on Monday night after veering into the Marne river in the Paris region.His passenger was still being treated for hypothermia, according to a police source. Another driver also lost his life east of Paris on Monday after a collision with a heavy goods vehicle.Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport, the Netherlands’ main flight hub, meanwhile saw a second day of weather-driven cancellations Tuesday, with at least 600 flights grounded and travellers facing huge queues at the airline counters.Dutch airline KLM, which is responsible for removing ice from most aircraft at Schiphol, warned that it had nearly run out of de-icing fluid, blaming the “extreme” weather conditions and supply delays.Trains from the Dutch national railway operator NS only began rolling again after 10:00am (0900 GMT), with services limited afterwards.But planes got off the ground again from Liverpool in northwest England and Aberdeen in northeast Scotland, after the cold had forced both airports to close on Monday.After nearly 40 centimetres (16 inches) fell in the Bosnian capital Sarajevo at the weekend, a woman died in hospital after being hit by a tree that collapsed under the weight of the snow on Monday, according to the police.Dozens of villages across neighbouring Serbia were left without power in the wake of the snowfall, while downpours caused several rivers to overflow in Bosnia and forced the evacuation of dozens of homes in Albania.More than 300 schools were shut in Scotland Tuesday, the national BBC broadcaster reported, with Scottish train services also severely disrupted.“Tuesday will bring more severe snow and ice to the north of Scotland - and with it, continued travel disruption and risks to people and communities,” Scottish transport minister Fiona Hyslop warned late on Monday.“It’s important that people plan ahead, consider their travel plans and work from home if that’s an option.”Several smaller French airports were closed on Tuesday, according to the transport ministry.In the French capital, Monday’s snowfall had settled overnight across much of Paris’s pavements, with pedestrians forced to navigate treacherously icy streets.Tour guide Valeria Pitchouguina said the sight of Paris snowed under was “truly extraordinary”, but the ice was complicating efforts to shepherd her groups up the steep steps to the picture-postcard district of Montmartre.“When it’s like that and snowy and icy, it’s something else, it’s less like climbing Montmartre and more like climbing Mont Blanc,” Pitchouguina told AFPTV. 

Cubans weary from years of economic crisis, shortages of basic supplies and regular power blackouts, fear the US attack on Venezuela, a leftist ideological ally and its main oil supplier, will see life get even tougher.After American forces seized Venezuela's leader Nicolas Maduro in an early-morning raid, US President Donald Trump over the weekend issued threats to other leftist leaders in the region and said he thought Cuba was "ready to fall."He played down the need for US military action on the island, saying it would be hard for Havana to "hold out" without Venezuelan oil, and "it looks like it's going down.""2026 is going to be tough, very tough," Axel Alfonso, a 53-year-old working as a driver for a state enterprise, told AFP in the capital Havana."If Venezuela is the main supplier, at least of oil, it's going to get a bit complicated," said Alfonso who, like the vast majority of Cubans, has lived his whole life under a bruising US trade embargo in place since 1962.The communist-run island has seen 13 US administrations come and go, some more punishing than others."We've been fighting for 60 years, and we have to keep going," Alfonso said.'Uncertainty'Located roughly 90 miles (about 145 kilometers) from the coast of Florida, Cuba's last major economic test followed the implosion in 1991 of the Soviet Union, a major trade partner and source of credit.It survived by opening up to tourism and foreign investment.Since 2000, Havana has increasingly relied on Venezuelan oil under a deal struck with Maduro's predecessor Hugo Chavez, in exchange for Cuban doctors, teachers, and sports coaches.In the last quarter of 2025, Venezuela sent Cuba an average of 30,000 - 35,000 barrels a day, "which represents 50 percent of the island's oil deficit," Jorge Pinon, an energy expert and researcher at the University of Texas, told AFP.The number was much higher 10 years ago, slashed by the global oil price crash that sent Venezuela's own economy into turmoil.For the past six years, Cuba has been mired in an ever-deepening crisis caused by a toxic combination of tighter US sanctions, poor domestic management of the economy and the collapse of tourism due to the Covid-19 pandemic.GDP has fallen by 11 percent in five years and the government faces a severe shortage of currency to pay for basic social services: electricity, healthcare and supplying subsidized food and other basic goods that many Cubans have learned to rely on.Economic hardship was a trigger for the unprecedented anti-government demonstrations of July 11, 2021, when thousands of Cubans took to the streets shouting "We are hungry" and "Freedom!"Since then, ever more frequent and longer power cuts and shortages of food and medicine have deepened discontent and led to sporadic, smaller protests, quickly contained by the government.Now, many fear that the loss of Venezuelan oil will make matters even worse."We're living in a moment of uncertainty," attorney Daira Perez, 30, told AFP.No bailoutPinon said it was "not clear whether shipments of Venezuelan oil to Cuba will continue," especially in the context of the recent US seizure of oil tankers in the Caribbean.And he highlighted that "Cuba doesn't have the resources to buy that volume on international markets, nor a political partner to bail it out."Despite concerns for the future, long-suffering Cubans put on a brave face."He (Trump) keeps making tough threats," said Havana resident Roberto Brown, 80, who was a young man during the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis that brought the world to the brink of nuclear war."We already told him once: we're 90 miles away, and a long-range missile from over there reaches here, but the one from here reaches there too," said Brown. 

Saudi Arabia’s stock market rose Thursday in ‌the first session of ‌the new ‍year, while most other regional bourses remained closed. Saudi Arabia’s benchmark index gained 0.6%, supported by ‍broad-based buying led by consumer staples, information technology and utilities. Riyad Bank rose 1.7% and ACWA Power added 1.2%. Saudi Arabia’s National Debt ‌Management Center said on Wednesday it had completed arrangements for a $13bn, seven-year syndicated loan ⁠to ‌help finance power, water and public utilities projects. Among individual stocks, Al Khaleej Training and Education jumped 7.6% after its unit signed a contract with the Saudi Electricity Regulatory Authority to operate and manage the authority’s ​contact centre ‌and digital channels. In Oman, the stock index edged ‍up 0.5%, with most constituents higher. OQ Exploration and Production gained 1.4% and Oman Telecommunications climbed 1.6%. Separately, Oman, a ‌small Gulf oil producer, ‌approved Thursday its 2026 budget with a deficit of 530mn Omani ‍rials ($1.38bn), which accounts for 1.3% of national output, the state news agency reported. Oman expects ‌total spending of 11.977bn rials in 2026, up 1.5% ‍from 2025, the state ‌news agency said. The Gulf country, which is largely reliant on oil, based this year’s budget on an average oil price of $60 per barrel. It ​expects revenues ‌of 11.447bn rials, up 2.4% ‍from 2025, the state news agency added. Oman said it expects the public debt to ​reach 14.6bn Omani rials ($38.02bn) by the end of 2026, which accounts for 36% of national output. 

The death toll in Sweden rose to three after a storm battered Scandinavia on Saturday and overnight, with thousands still without power Sunday.The storm, dubbed Johannes in Sweden, swept over large parts of the northern half of the country and western parts of Finland.A man in his 60s who had been working in the forest was hit by a falling tree on Saturday in Hofors in Sweden, police said Sunday.He later died of his injuries in the hospital.The fatality adds to the two reported on Saturday: a man in his 50s died at the hospital after also being hit by a falling tree near the Kungsberget ski resort in central Sweden, Mats Lann of Gavleborg police told AFP.Further north, regional utility Hemab said that one of its employees had died in an accident "in the field".Broadcaster SVT reported that the worker had also been caught under a falling tree.Strong gusts toppled trees, disrupted traffic and caused large power outages in Sweden and Finland.In Finland, more than 85,000 homes were still without power around 12am local time (10 GMT) Sunday after a peak of over 180,000.Energy companies warned the reparation work might take several days.Meanwhile, Swedish news agency TT reported that at least 40,000 Swedish homes were still left without electricity Sunday morning. 

Copper is one of the world’s most ubiquitous metals, used in just about everything that’s electrified: smartphones, refrigerators, electric vehicles, power grids and much more.It’s a crucial material for the green technologies that can lower global carbon emissions, as well as the data centres at the heart of the artificial intelligence boom. But while demand for copper is growing, it’s far from certain that there will be enough supply amid recent production disruptions and the difficulties in building new mines and expanding existing operations.The market has been hit by a slew of mine outages this year from Chile to Indonesia. Lingering fears that President Donald Trump will impose tariffs on refined products have also driven stockpiling in the US, draining inventories elsewhere. A blistering late-year rally has pushed copper prices to records and put the metal on track for its biggest annual gain since 2009. What’s driving demand for copper?The near-term outlook for copper demand growth has been clouded by weakness in China, the world’s top consumer of the red metal. The country’s property market has been stuck in a years-long downturn that’s dented the need for copper plumbing and wiring, while consumer spending has been sluggish, weighing on appetite for finished goods such as electronic appliances.Nonetheless, robust momentum in global copper demand is expected over the long term. BloombergNEF estimates consumption could increase by more than a third by 2035 in its baseline scenario.The drivers of this trend include the ongoing shift to cleaner energy sources such as solar panels and wind turbines, growing adoption of electric vehicles and the expansion of power grids. EVs can require more than three times as much copper as a gasoline- or diesel-powered equivalent, according to the Copper Development Association.There’s also the proliferation of data centres for AI that’s just beginning. Copper is a vital part of the servers, cooling systems, power connections and numerous backup components designed to minimise downtime. AI data centres are more dense and energy-intensive than traditional facilities and can use four times as much copper, according to TCu29, a provider of copper-backed digital tokens. Will there be enough copper?The copper market is anticipated to enter a supply deficit over the next decade, potentially as soon as 2026, BloombergNEF estimates.Several large copper mines faced operational setbacks in 2025, and a number of mining companies have lowered their production guidance. Within just a few months, seismic activity triggered flooding at Ivanhoe Mines Ltd.’s Kamoa-Kakula complex in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and a deadly tunnel collapse at Codelco’s El Teniente mine in Chile. In Indonesia, Freeport-McMoRan Inc’s Grasberg copper mine — the second-largest in the world — was hit by a deadly mudslide.Those setbacks have exacerbated the pressure on copper smelters. For years, smelting capacity, particularly in China, has expanded faster than miners’ output, eroding smelters’ already-thin profit margins. The competition is so fierce that smelters looking to buy semi-processed ore on the open market have had to pay for the privilege of smelting it rather than deducting that cost. Should smelters cut their production to stem losses, this could further tighten copper supply.While more copper is being recycled, this still won’t be enough to cover demand, so the only alternative is to dig more out of the ground. How easy is it to boost copper supply?There are numerous obstacles to meaningfully boosting output. Because copper is a classic bellwether of the global economy, rising and falling in tandem with industrial production, miners are cautious about ramping up capacity too quickly for fear of getting caught out by a drop in demand.Added to this is a deeper, more structural problem: New deposits are getting harder and costlier to extract as ore grades fall, meaning more rock needs to be mined to secure the same amount of metal. Growing scrutiny of the environmental impact of copper mining, including water consumption and contamination, is also making it more politically challenging and expensive to develop new projects.Higher prices could incentivise miners to invest in new assets, but the rate at which new sources of copper are being uncovered is slowing. Of the 239 major deposits discovered between 1990 and 2023, just 14 were found in the final ten years, according to S&P Global analysis. It’s taking more time to bring new production capacity online, too. The average lead time from discovery to first output is more than 15 years.Amid the difficulties in starting new mines from scratch, miners are turning to mergers and acquisitions to expand their portfolios. Anglo American Plc is poised to merge with Canada’s Teck Resources Ltd to create a $50bn mining giant. Once they combine, they’ll be the world’s fifth-largest copper producer, according to Benchmark Intelligence.Both companies have previously been pursued by bigger industry players: Anglo rebuffed another takeover attempt by top miner BHP Group in November, while Glencore Plc unsuccessfully tried to buy Teck two years ago. Who are the world’s top copper suppliers?Just three countries are responsible for almost 50% of mined copper production: Chile, the DRC and Peru. They typically process much of the ore locally to create a more concentrated product, before exporting this to other nations to be smelted into pure copper.China only has the world’s eighth-largest copper reserves, according to the US Geological Survey, putting it behind leaders in Latin America and even the US. But it’s compensated for this by snapping up mines overseas and building out massive smelting capacity domestically. The East Asian nation accounted for more than 40% of global refined copper production in 2024.China’s sway over such a strategic industry has made the US and its allies uneasy, and they’re now looking to source and refine more critical minerals at home or in friendlier nations. Much as oil dictated the geopolitics of the last century, access to copper is becoming an economic imperative in this one. How have US tariffs impacted the copper market?Copper trade flows have been upended since Trump announced plans in February to place import tariffs on the metal in a bid to boost US domestic supply. He unexpectedly spared refined metal, only imposing a 50% duty on semi-finished copper products, such as pipes and wires, and so-called derivative products, such as electrical components, from August.However, Trump said he’d revisit the decision in the second half of 2026. Fears of impending tariffs on commodity-grade forms of copper have once again driven futures prices on New York’s Comex above copper prices on other global exchanges, reviving the profitable price gap traders exploited earlier in 2025.As traders have rushed to capitalise on the premium, huge volumes of the metal have headed to US shores. By early December, Comex copper inventories were almost five times higher than at the start of the year.Producers have also announced they’ll charge record premiums to customers in Europe and Asia in 2026, effectively asking these buyers to compensate them for the additional profits they could make by selling into the US.Metals trader Mercuria Energy Group Ltd has warned that these trade dynamics could fuel a major global supply squeeze by the first quarter of 2026. 

Tens of thousands of people were left without power and heating in southern Ukraine after Russian attacks on the frontline city of Kherson and Ukraine’s largest seaport, Odesa, authorities and a top energy provider said Thursday. Russia has sharply increased its attacks on Ukraine’s energy and utilities sector as winter approaches, plunging swathes of cities and regions into darkness. State oil and gas firm Naftogaz said a heat and power plant in the southern city of Kherson had been “almost completely destroyed.” Regional governor Oleksandr Prokudin said the attack left 40,500 customers without heat. “This is a purely civilian facility providing heat to residents,” Naftogaz CEO Sergii Korteskyi wrote on X. “Such targeted bombing is terrorism.” Kherson, a frontline city that was for several months occupied by Russian forces after Moscow’s invasion in February 2022, comes under Russian missile, drone and artillery attack on an almost daily basis. Separately, Ukrainian energy company DTEK said Thursday that Russia attacked its energy facility in the southern Odesa region overnight, leaving 51,800 households without power. In Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, where Russian forces are grinding forward in the battlefield, attacks left about 60,000 residents without power, Kyiv’s energy ministry said. 

Under the patronage of Syria’s President Ahmed al-Sharaa, Syria’s Minister of Energy Mohammed al-Basheer laid the foundation stone announcing the start of construction works for the Deir Ezzor Power Plant with a capacity of approximately 1,000 MW.This project comes as part of a series of projects – with a total capacity of 5,000MW – that were recently signed and will be implemented by an international consortium led by the Qatari company UCC Urbacon, with the participation of Cengiz (Turkiye), Kalyon (Turkiye), and Power International (the US).This national event reflects the beginning of a new phase in which the country moves toward rebuilding the energy sector and strengthening its electrical security.The minister was accompanied at the ceremony by Omar Shaqrouq, Deputy Minister of Energy for Electricity Affairs, representatives of the international coalition led by UCC Urbacon, the Governor of Deir Ezzor Ghassan Ahmed, local community figures, and a number of directors from the coalition companies and officials from the Ministry of Energy.This strategic project represents a decisive step in the State’s efforts to turn the page on years of severe electricity shortages and move toward a more reliable and sustainable electrical system capable of meeting the needs of citizens and various industrial, commercial, and tourism sectors across the country, thereby driving economic growth.The Deir Ezzor Power Plant is the first and largest of the power plants to be launched under the Independent Power Producer (IPP) programme. Once operational, it is expected to boost the national grid’s production capacity, improve supply stability, and meet the increasing demand for electricity in the eastern region and the rest of the governorates.The launch of the project is expected to have a positive impact on the region and the national economy by creating tens of thousands of direct and indirect job opportunities during both the construction and operational phases. It will also contribute to localising modern, high-efficiency, low-emission technologies, in accordance with international standards, in addition to developing trained and qualified technical personnel.Laying the foundation stone Wednesday, sends a clear message that Syria is entering a new stage of recovery, in which major national capabilities are being rebuilt and strategic energy projects launched that restore Syria’s natural role and regional standing and support sustainable development.Through this event, the State reaffirms its continued commitment to enhancing energy infrastructure, improving quality of life, and opening broader horizons for economic prosperity in the coming years. 

Ukraine struck a heat and power station in the Moscow region Sunday with drones, triggering a major fire and cutting off heating for thousands in one of Kyiv's biggest attacks to date on a power station deep inside Russia.In the fourth year of the deadliest European conflict since World War Two, Russia has been pummelling Ukraine's electricity and heat infrastructure while Kyiv has up until now mostly focused on trying to knock out Russia's oil refineries, crude terminals and pipelines. But early Sunday, Ukrainian drones struck the Shatura Power Station, about 120km east of the Kremlin, Moscow region governor Andrei Vorobyov said.Video footage on Telegram showed balls of flames and black smoke rising into the night sky from the power station. Reuters was able to confirm the location, though not the date of the video. "Some of the drones were destroyed by air-defence forces. Several fell on the territory of the station.A fire broke out at the facility," Vorobyov said. Vorobyov said that backup power had been switched on and that mobile heating systems were being deployed to the area where the temperature was around freezing point. "All efforts are being taken to promptly restore heat supply," Vorobyov said. The town of Shatura has a population of about 33,000.One local resident said that there was no heating. Three transformers at the power station caught fire, the *Kommersant newspaper cited the emergencies ministry as saying. There was no immediate comment from Ukraine.In recent weeks and months, there have been repeated power and heat outages in parts of Ukraine due to Russian attacks. Ukraine has tried to undermine Russia's war economy by targeting its oil revenues.Ukraine has also hit some power and heating installations in Ukrainian regions controlled by Russian forces and in Russian regions neighbouring Ukraine, but has thus far not inflicted major damage on electricity and heat stations serving Moscow and the surrounding region, which has a population of more than 22mn.Russia's defence ministry said Sunday it had downed 75 Ukrainian drones, including 36 over the Black Sea and several over the Moscow region. Russia's Vnukovo airport halted flights Sunday for about an hour before restoring them. The Shatura power station, one of Russia's oldest, was founded under Vladimir Lenin after the Bolshevik revolution, and used to run on peat. It now uses mostly natural gas.

India and Bhutan Tuesday expanded their energy ties during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the Himalayan nation where he extended a Rs40bn ($455mn) line of credit and inaugurated a hydroelectric power project.India’s outreach to Bhutan is seen as an effort to grow its influence in the region and draw the country wedged between China and India closer to New Delhi as Beijing steps up its engagement to resolve a long-running border dispute with Bhutan and establish diplomatic relations.Modi is on a two-day visit to the country and Tuesday addressed a gathering to mark the birthday celebrations of Bhutan’s King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck’s father. “The partnership of trust and development between India and Bhutan stands as a model for the entire region,” he said. “As both our countries progress rapidly, our energy partnership is further accelerating this growth.”Modi said his visit would deepen ties and that their partnership was a “key pillar” of India’s “neighbourhood first” policy.Later in the day, he inaugurated the India-funded 1,020-megawatt Punatsangchhu-II hydroelectric power project, which he said would increase Bhutan’s hydropower generating capacity by nearly 40%.It is the fifth Indian-backed hydropower project in the country which altogether generate a total of nearly 3,000 megawatts of power. The line of credit extended by India Tuesday is also aimed at funding energy projects, the Indian government said.Lok Nath Sharma, a former minister for energy in Bhutan, said the excess energy will be exported to India after meeting local demand which is about 1,000 megawatts.

Around 100,000 people were still without power in the northeastern Ukrainian region of Kharkiv, Kyiv authorities said Sunday, a day after Russia's latest attacks on energy infrastructure.Moscow, which has escalated attacks on Ukraine's infrastructure in recent months, launched hundreds of drones at energy facilities across the country overnight into Saturday.Some of these strikes affected the Kharkiv region, home to Ukraine's second biggest city, Restoration Minister Oleksiy Kuleba said."Time is needed to restart the equipment. Currently, around 100,000 consumers remain without electricity, water, and heating," Kuleba said.Ukraine's energy minister Svitlana Grynchuk said the wave of attacks, which killed four people, marked "one of the most difficult nights" for Ukrainian energy since the Russian invasion began.In the Poltava region, one of the most affected, power was mostly restored Sunday. But damaged equipment left parts of its main city still in the dark, local authorities said.State energy operator Ukrenergo implemented scheduled power cuts, allowing to balance the system, in most Ukrainian regions.Russia has targeted the power and heating grid throughout its almost four-year invasion, destroying a large part of the key civilian infrastructure.Moscow has switched tactics, striking simultaneously generation facilities, as well as power transmission and distribution systems, said deputy Minister of Energy Artem Nekrasov."This complicates the prompt restoration of normal power supply and the normal operation of the energy system," he said.As with previous waves of attacks, Russia's defence ministry said it struck "enterprises of the Ukrainian military-industrial complex and gas and energy facilities that support their operation."Ukraine has been responding with strikes on Russia's energy and oil facilities.Ukrainian strikes on energy infrastructure have left more than 20,000 people without power in several Russian border regions, local authorities said.Belgorod Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said the "electricity and heating supply network has suffered severe damage" in the regional capital of the same name."Several streets are affected by power issues... More than 20,000 residents are without electricity," he said on Telegram.In the western Kursk region, "a fire broke out at one of the power plants in the village of Korenevo," cutting power to 10 localities, Governor Alexander Khinshtein said on Telegram.A fire also broke out at a heating facility in the southern Voronezh region, according to Governor Alexander Gusev.Russia's defence ministry, for its part, reported having shot down 44 drones over the border Bryansk region.Moscow launched 69 drones at energy facilities across the country overnight into Sunday, of which 34 were shot down, according to the Ukrainian air force.

The Ministry of Energy in the Syrian Arab Republic today signed the final concession agreements to build and operate eight new power generation stations with a total capacity of 5,000 megawatts, with the international consortium led by Urbacon Holding, through its subsidiary Urbacon Concessions Investment, and in partnership with Kalyon G.I.S. Energy, Cengiz Energy, and Power International (USA). This signing comes as part of the Qatari project package in Syria, and as an extension of the Memorandum of Understanding signed on 29 May 2025, which laid the general framework for strategic cooperation in the energy sector and set the practical foundations for initiating the rehabilitation and development of the country’s electrical infrastructure. Following the signing of the MoU, preparatory engineering and technical works were completed, including field surveys for the plant sites and the necessary technical studies, to enable immediate commencement of implementation.The agreements were signed at the Ministry of Energy headquarters in Damascus between Eng. Mohammad Al-Bashir, Minister of Energy of the Syrian Arab Republic, and Ramez Al-Khayyat, President of UCC Holding, in the presence of representatives of the consortium companies, and officials from the Ministry, the Syrian Energy Company, and the Syrian Electricity Company. This step reflects the transition from contractual, technical, and financial preparation to direct on-ground execution.The final contracts include the construction and operation of four high-efficiency, natural-gas-fired combined-cycle power plants, namely the North Aleppo Power Plant (1,200 MW), the Deir Ezzor Power Plant (1,000 MW), the Zayzoun Power Plant (1,000 MW), and the Mhardeh Power Plant (800 MW). In addition, the agreements include the implementation of solar renewable energy projects with a total capacity of 1,000 MW distributed across four locations: Widian Al-Rabee (200 MW), Deir Ezzor (300 MW), Aleppo (300 MW), and Homs (200 MW).These projects will be executed using the latest advanced technologies in performance, efficiency, and reliability, in accordance with the highest global standards for environmental and public safety considerations, and based on an accelerated implementation schedule that ensures phased commissioning and timely entry into service.This project represents a pivotal stage in rehabilitating Syria’s energy system and driving economic growth, as the availability of stable electricity is essential for restoring factories and production lines to full operational capacity, and for launching new industrial, agricultural, and commercial ventures. It will contribute to reducing operational costs, improving the investment climate, and enhancing the competitiveness of local production and exports, thereby encouraging domestic and international investment and supporting long-term economic diversification.The projects are expected to generate tens of thousands of direct and indirect job opportunities during both the construction and operational phases. Furthermore, the adoption of modern technologies will enable the training and upskilling of national technical personnel, supporting sector sustainability and the localization of expertise in the field of energy.Eng. Mohammad Al-Bashir, Minister of Energy, stated:“This project represents a qualitative leap in the development of Syria’s energy infrastructure. It enhances generation capacity and supports the stability of the electrical grid, aligned with national economic development objectives. These projects aim to close the generation gap, meet the growing demand for electricity, and enhance energy supply security, forming a fundamental base for sustainable economic and social growth, strengthening the performance of productive and service sectors, and enabling stable economic development in the coming years.”Moutaz Al-Khayyat, Chairman of UCC Holding, said:“The strategic partnership between the public and private sectors in this project constitutes an essential step toward building a sustainable development model in Syria, and reflects the confidence of international partners in the prospects of Syria’s economic recovery. We are committed to executing these projects according to the set timelines and the highest global standards, ensuring a tangible economic impact that extends beyond the energy sector to supply chains, industry, and investment flows. Enhancing Syria’s energy security will contribute to the revival of industrial activity, support economic stability, and open broader pathways for regional cooperation in the coming stage.”It is noteworthy that this project represents the first and most prominent integrated public-private partnership model in the Syrian energy sector, reflecting the attractiveness of the national investment environment and its ability to draw international partners. The project is expected to pave the way for further major investments in other key economic and service sectors in the near future.