Joanna Kicis

Zelensky said he had seen video footage from the Gulf of Ukrainian weapons taking down Iranian Shahid drones.

which have struck several sites, including U.S.

bases in the Middle East, over the last month.

He did not say in which Gulf countries the Ukrainian team shot down these drones, citing security reasons.

In the last couple of weeks, Zelensky has visited the region and signed defense deals with Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates.

Russia has been using Shahed drones to strike Ukrainian cities nearly every night, so Ukraine has developed ways to destroy them.

This includes electronic jamming as well as small, cheap interceptor drones that blow up Shaheds.

Joanna Kekises, NPR News, Kyiv.

Russia's longtime foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, brought it up yesterday in an interview with Interfax, Russia's state-owned news agency.

And he claimed without evidence that Ukraine had launched 91 drones at a Putin residence in Novgorod in the northwest.

and that Russia's air defense had shot down these drones.

Now, we should say Lavrov is not trusted by Western leaders, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky immediately denied Lavrov's charge and said Russia was inventing this incident to undermine peace talks and expand attacks on Ukraine.

Ukraine's state-owned electricity generating company, Centronego, said that the Russian attacks had reduced capacity to, quote, zero at thermal power plants.

Foreign Minister Andriy Sibycha said that Russian drones also targeted two nuclear power substations deep in western Ukraine.

Every fall, Russia steps up attacks on Ukraine's power and heating grid.

to force a harsh winter on Ukrainian cities.

Many Ukrainians have adapted by using backup energy storage devices and generators in their homes and businesses.

This year, Ukraine has attacked Russian oil depots and refineries to weaken what it calls Russia's war machine.

Joanna Kikissis, NPR News, Kyiv.