Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison has stepped in to personally guarantee $40.4 billion in Paramount Skydance&#8217;s latest effort to pry Warner Bros Discovery away from selling its prized Hollywood assets to streaming giant Netflix.
The guarantee, disclosed in a filing on Monday, seeks to allay the Warner Bros board&#8217;s doubts about Paramount&#8217;s financing and the lack of full Ellison family backing, which had pushed it toward the competing cash-and-stock offer from Netflix.
Here&#8217;s what analysts and market experts are saying about the latest development:
SETH SHAFER, PRINCIPAL ANALYST AT S&amp;P GLOBAL, NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE
&#8220;I don&#8217;t think the revised bid from Paramount Skydance significantly alters the current status quo. I doubt many WBD shareholders that are on the fence or planning to vote &#8216;no&#8217; were holding out due to issues the revised bid addresses such as a guarantee from Larry Ellison on the funding front.&#8221;
&#8220;We&#8217;re still likely months away from a shareholder vote on the Paramount offer and the planned closing date of the deal agreed with Netflix would be in the second half of 2026. There will likely be many more twists and turns ahead and both Paramount and Netflix have a chance.&#8221;
MICHAEL PACHTER, MANAGING DIRECTOR, STRATEGIC PLANNING AT WEDBUSH SECURITIES, CALIFORNIA
&#8220;The WBD Board rejected the last offer because they thought it was speculative and revocable. This one makes the offer irrevocable and directly addresses the Board&#8217;s concern.
&#8220;If the board is rational and ethical (a big if), it must accept the offer, since the $108 billion PSKY offered is more than the $83 billion offered by Netflix. We;ll see what the Board does, but PSKY is right to make this offer directly to them.&#8221;
&#8220;Yes, Paramount has a chance to win, approaching 100%&#8221;
ROSS BENES, SENIOR ANALYST AT EMARKETER, NEW YORK
&#8220;The updated offer from Paramount doesn&#8217;t change the fact that WBD&#8217;s executives prefer Netflix. The new offer does make Paramount&#8217;s case more compelling to the board and shareholders. But WBD executives will keep fighting to maintain the Netflix deal as long as they can. This battle will be prolonged.&#8221;
PAOLO PESCATORE, ANALYST AT PP FORESIGHT, LONDON
&#8220;Paramount remains in a precarious position and is making a last-ditch effort to avoid being left out in the shadows. It cannot afford to lose out and be a weaker player compared to its stronger rivals.&#8221;
&#8220;The improved offer is a step in the right direction, but it is unlikely to be enough.&#8221;
REUBEN MILLER, HEAD OF ANTITRUST AT DEALREPORTER, WASHINGTON DC
&#8220;The financing from the sovereign wealth funds opens a regulatory box that needs to be checked. Having these players involved will bring another dimension of scrutiny, as well as a big diplomatic question &#8211; how far will using money from Middle Eastern sovereign wealth funds bring them into partnership with one America&#8217;s cultural touchstones?&#8221;
&#8220;Paramount has claimed that any influence from the funds will be neutralised due to their lack of voting rights, but there are other questions at play which make the picture far murkier. Notably, the access of these funds, as key stakeholders, to WBD and Paramount&#8217;s data, as well as the wider diplomatic implications of foreign bodies having a vested stake in such a huge entity in U.S. media production and consumption.&#8221;
(Reporting by Kritika Lamba in Bengaluru, compiled by Arpan Varghese; Editing by Anil D&#8217;Silva)

In this photo illustration, the Warner Bros Discovery logo

Ellison Steps In With Personal Guarantee As Paramount Fights For Warner Bros

Antitrust

Hollywood

Movies

Netflix

Paramount

U.S.

Warner Bros

The United States is interdicting and seizing a vessel off the coast of Venezuela in international waters, three U.S. officials told Reuters on Saturday, a move that comes just days after U.S. President Donald Trump announced a &#8220;blockade&#8221; of all sanctioned oil tankers entering and leaving Venezuela.
This would mark the second time in recent weeks that the United States has seized a tanker near Venezuela and comes amid a large U.S. military build-up in the region.
The officials, who were speaking on the condition of anonymity, did not say where the operation was taking place but added the Coast Guard was in the lead.
The Coast Guard and Pentagon referred questions to the White House, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Venezuela&#8217;s oil ministry and state oil company PDVSA did not immediately reply to requests for comment.
&#8220;I am ordering A TOTAL AND COMPLETE BLOCKADE OF ALL SANCTIONED OIL TANKERS going into, and out of, Venezuela,&#8221; Trump said on Tuesday.
In the days since U.S. forces seized a sanctioned oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela last week, there has been an effective embargo in place, with loaded vessels carrying millions of barrels of oil staying in Venezuelan waters rather than risk seizure.
Since the first seizure, Venezuelan crude exports have fallen sharply.
While many vessels picking up oil in Venezuela are under sanctions, others transporting the country&#8217;s oil and crude from Iran and Russia have not been sanctioned, and some companies, particularly the U.S.&#8217; Chevron, transport Venezuelan oil in their own authorized ships.
China is the biggest buyer of Venezuelan crude, which accounts for roughly 4% of its imports, with shipments in December on track to average more than 600,000 barrels per day, analysts have said.
For now, the oil market is well supplied and there are millions of barrels of oil on tankers off the coast of China waiting to offload. If the embargo stays in place for some time, then the loss of nearly a million barrels a day of crude supply is likely to push oil prices higher.
Since the U.S. imposed energy sanctions on Venezuela in 2019, traders and refiners buying Venezuelan oil have resorted to a &#8220;shadow fleet&#8221; of tankers that disguise their location and to vessels sanctioned for transporting Iranian or Russian oil.
The dark or shadow fleet is considered exposed to possible punitive measures from the U.S., shipping analysts have said.
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As of this week, of more than 70 oil tankers in Venezuelan waters that are part of the shadow fleet, around 38 are under sanctions by the U.S. Treasury, according to data from TankerTrackers.com. Of those, at least 15 are loaded with crude and fuel, it added.
Trump&#8217;s pressure campaign on Maduro has included a ramped-up military presence in the region and more than two dozen military strikes on vessels in the Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea near Venezuela, which have killed at least 100 people.
Trump has also said that U.S. land strikes on the South American country will soon start.
Venezuela&#8217;s President Nicolas Maduro has alleged that the U.S. military build-up is aimed at overthrowing him and gaining control of the OPEC nation&#8217;s oil resources, which are the world&#8217;s largest crude reserves.
(Reporting by Idrees Ali, Phil Stewart and Marianna Parraga; Editing by Alison Williams, Sergio Non and Franklin Paul)

Venezuela Oil Tanker

U.S. Seizes Vessel Off Venezuelan Coast, Officials Say

Global Politics

Pentagon

Venezuela

World

Warner Bros Discovery&#8217;s board could announce a decision as early as Wednesday on Paramount Skydance&#8217;s $108.4 billion takeover bid, with the board likely to advise shareholders to vote against the offer, according to sources familiar with the matter.
The decision to recommit to Netflix&#8217;s buyout offer would mark the latest twist in the race for assets that include Warner Bros&#8217; storied film and TV studio, and its extensive film and television library, whose portfolio includes classics ranging from &#8220;Casablanca&#8221; and &#8220;Citizen Kane&#8221; to contemporary favorites like &#8220;Harry Potter&#8221; and &#8220;Friends,&#8221; HBO and the HBO Max streaming service.
A Warner Bros Discovery spokesman declined to comment.
The winner will gain a big advantage in the streaming wars by locking up a deep content library that has long been an acquisition target.
Netflix earlier this month emerged victorious with a $27 cash-and-stock bid for Warner Bros&#8217; non-cable assets.
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Paramount CEO David Ellison then went directly to Warner Bros&#8217; shareholders with a $30-a-share, all-cash bid for the whole company.
In regulatory filings, Paramount has said its bid is superior to Netflix&#8217;s offer and would enjoy a clearer path to regulatory approval. Its offer is financed by $41 billion in new equity, which is backed by the Ellison family and RedBird Capital, and $54 billion of debt commitments from Bank of America, Citi and Apollo.
Jared Kushner&#8217;s Affinity Partners, which was one of Paramount&#8217;s financing partners, is exiting the battle, according to Bloomberg.
Paramount and Affinity Partners did not immediately respond to Reuters&#8217; request for comment.
(Reporting by Milana Vinn in New York and Dawn Chmielewski in Los AngelesEditing by Ken Li, Dawn Kopecki and Nick Zieminski)

Warner Bros Likely To Reject $108.4 Billion Paramount Bid, Back Netflix In Bidding War, Sources Say

Entertainment

Media

Days after Hamas attacked Israel in 2023, killing some 1,200 people and sparking the war in Gaza, an inverted red triangle was spray-painted on the front of a Jewish bakery in Sydney, the first of a string of antisemitic incidents in Australia.
Sixteen months and thousands of arson, firebombing, graffiti, and hate-speech incidents later, the head of the nation&#8217;s main intelligence agency declared that antisemitism was his number one priority in terms of threat to life.
Sunday&#8217;s shooting attack on a Hanukkah celebration at Sydney&#8217;s Bondi Beach, which killed at least 12 people and wounded dozens, brought to reality a fear that many Australian Jews say they have been living with: that they are no longer safe in the country that was supposed to protect them.
&#8220;This is the worst fears of the Jewish community,&#8221; Alex Ryvchin, co-CEO of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, told Sky News. &#8220;It&#8217;s been bubbling under the surface for a long time, and now it&#8217;s actually happened.&#8221;
Australia&#8217;s Jewish diaspora is small but deeply embedded in the wider community, with about 150,000 people who identify as Jewish in the country of 27 million. About one-third of them are estimated to live in Sydney&#8217;s eastern suburbs, including Bondi.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, calling the Hanukkah shootings a devastating terrorist attack targeting Jewish people, said his government would &#8220;dedicate every resource to making sure you are safe and protected.&#8221;
Amid constant reports of Jewish parents afraid to take their children to daycare and Jewish schools hiring extra security, the government last year appointed its first special envoy to combat antisemitism.
&#8220;Being Jewish, it&#8217;s been a very challenging few years,&#8221; said Terry, who gave only his first name and was at a nearby Hanukkah event that was put into lockdown.
&#8220;Maybe we need to move to Israel one day. The irony is that that&#8217;s looking like the only real safe place in the world we can be as Jews.&#8221;
Ryvchin&#8217;s organisation logged some 1,600 anti-Jewish incidents in the year to September 30, about three times the number in any year before the Hamas attack and Israel&#8217;s response, according to a report it published this month.
One of those incidents was antisemitic graffiti on Ryvchin&#8217;s former home near Bondi Beach in January, the report said.
Other incidents included a childcare centre firebombed and emblazoned with antisemitic graffiti, also in Sydney&#8217;s eastern suburbs, and two public hospital nurses who were sacked after being captured on a social media video-chat platform saying they would turn away Israeli patients.
&#8220;The inevitable has happened now,&#8221; said Rabbi Levi Wolff of Central Sydney Synagogue, speaking in Bondi. As a Jew in Australia, he added, &#8220;You&#8217;re always looking behind you.&#8221;
Reporting by Byron Kaye and Pete McKenzie; Editing by William Mallard

AUSTRALIA-CRIME

For Australia’s Jews, Bondi Shooting Feels Tragically Inevitable

antisemitism

Australia

Jewish

President Donald Trump on Friday honored members of the U.S. men&#8217;s ice hockey team who beat their Soviet rivals in what was called the &#8220;Miracle on Ice&#8221; during the 1980 Winter Olympic Games in Lake Placid.
Trump hosted the players in the Oval Office and signed a bill to award congressional medals in the team&#8217;s honor. All were wearing white cowboy hats, and Trump briefly donned one, too. The team wore the hats during the opening ceremony of the 1980 Winter Olympics.
&#8220;This was one of the biggest moments that I&#8217;ve ever seen in sports &#8230; These are the men that gave us one of the most storied athletic wins of all time,&#8221; Trump said.
The event, with 13 members of the gold medal-winning team, included captain Mike Eruzione, goaltender Jim Craig and forward Buzz Schneider. The son of deceased coach Herb Brooks was also in attendance.
One of the team&#8217;s members, Ken Morrow, told Trump that the &#8220;USA! USA!&#8221; chant, now common at Trump rallies, originated in Lake Placid. &#8220;That&#8217;s right! I tried to take credit for that,&#8221; Trump responded.
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Captain Eruzione praised his team for not just winning against the Soviets but also in the final game versus Finland. &#8220;A lot of us take great pride in knowing that we closed the deal,&#8221; he said.
The squad of U.S. college players ended the Soviets&#8217; reign as four-time Olympic champions with a 4-3 triumph that many consider the greatest upset in the history of sport.
The U.S. beat the Soviet team 4-3 in the semi-finals, winning the gold two days later against Finland.
The game captivated Americans during bitter Cold War tensions between the U.S. and Soviet Union. The American players were inducted into the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame in 1983.
(Reporting by Andrea Shalal and Trevor Hunnicutt; Editing by Ken Ferris)

Donald Trump

Trump Honors ‘Miracle On Ice’ Hockey Players Who Defeated Soviets In 1980

Executive

Hockey

Russia

Sports

White House

A federal judge in California ruled on Friday that Live Nation and its subsidiary Ticketmaster must face a class action on behalf of millions of Americans for allegedly overcharging them for events at major concert venues across the country.
U.S. District Judge George Wu in Los Angeles ruled that the plaintiffs met the criteria to expand their lawsuit into a class action seeking 15 years of alleged damages tied to the purchase of more than 400 million tickets.
Live Nation had urged Wu to deny certifying the lawsuit as a class action. The company and attorneys for the plaintiffs did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The class covers consumers who bought tickets directly from Ticketmaster or a Live Nation affiliate for events at major venues since 2010.
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Beverly Hills, California-based Live Nation was accused in the 2022 lawsuit of monopolizing ticketing services, allowing the company to charge artificially high prices in violation of antitrust law.
Live Nation and Ticketmaster have denied any wrongdoing.
In their opposition to class certification, Live Nation and Ticketmaster told Wu that individualized issues involving tickets sold for 1,000 venues made it impossible to hold a single trial on the plaintiffs’ allegations.
Live Nation said the venues, not Ticketmaster, set fees paid by fans, often on a show-by-show basis.
The U.S. Supreme Court in October declined to hear a bid by Live Nation and Ticketmaster to move the lawsuit out of federal court and into private arbitration.
Live Nation faces other antitrust lawsuits over its ticketing practices, including an antitrust action filed in federal court in Manhattan by the U.S. Justice Department and a group of states. The company has denied any wrongdoing in that case.
(Reporting by Mike Scarcella; Editing by David Bario and Matthew Lewis)

Ticketmaster

Live Nation, Ticketmaster Must Face Sprawling Class Action Over Prices, Judge Rules

California

Courts

Lawsuit

U.S. President Donald Trump&#8217;s outgoing Ukraine envoy said a deal to end the Ukraine war was &#8220;really close&#8221; and depended on resolving just two major issues but the Kremlin said there had to be radical changes to some of the U.S. proposals.
Trump, who says he wants to be remembered as a &#8220;peacemaker&#8221; president, says that ending Europe&#8217;s deadliest conflict since World War Two has so far been the most elusive foreign policy aim of his presidency.
Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022 after eight years of fighting between Russian-backed separatists and Ukrainian troops in the Donbas, which is made up of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
U.S. Special Envoy for Ukraine Keith Kellogg, who is due to step down in January, told the Reagan National Defense Forum that efforts to resolve the conflict were in &#8220;the last 10 meters&#8221; which he said was always the hardest.
The two main outstanding issues, Kellogg said, were on territory &#8211; primarily the future of the Donbas &#8211; and the future of Ukraine&#8217;s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, Europe&#8217;s largest, which is under Russian control.
&#8220;If we get those two issues settled, I think the rest of the things will work out fairly well,&#8221; Kellogg said on Saturday at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum in Simi Valley, California. &#8220;We&#8217;re almost there.&#8221;
&#8220;We&#8217;re really, really close,&#8221; said Kellogg.
After President Vladimir Putin held four hours of Kremlin talks last week with Trump&#8217;s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, and Trump&#8217;s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, Putin&#8217;s top foreign policy aide, Yuri Ushakov, said &#8220;territorial problems&#8221; were discussed.
That is Kremlin shorthand for Russian claims to the whole of Donbas, though Ukraine is still in control of at least 5,000 square km (1,900 square miles) of the area. Almost all countries recognize Donbas as part of Ukraine.
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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said that handing over the rest of Donetsk would be illegal without a referendum and would give Russia a platform to launch assaults deeper into Ukraine in the future.
Ushakov was quoted by Russian media on Sunday as saying that the United States would have to &#8220;make serious, I would say, radical changes to their papers&#8221; on Ukraine. He did not clarify what changes Moscow wanted Washington to make.
Zelensky said on Saturday that he had had a long and &#8220;substantive&#8221; phone call with Witkoff and Kushner. The Kremlin has said it expects Kushner to be doing the main work on drafting a possible deal.
Kellogg, a retired lieutenant general who served in Vietnam, Panama and Iraq, said the scale of the death and injuries caused by the Ukraine war was &#8220;horrific&#8221; and unprecedented in terms of a regional war.
Kellogg said that, together, Russia and Ukraine have suffered more than 2 million casualties, including dead and wounded since the war began. Neither Russia nor Ukraine disclose credible estimates of their losses.
Russia currently controls 19.2% of Ukraine, including Crimea, which it annexed in 2014, all of Luhansk, more than 80% of Donetsk, about 75% of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, and slivers of the Kharkiv, Sumy, Mykolaiv and Dnipropetrovsk regions.
A leaked set of 28 U.S. draft peace proposals emerged last month, alarming Ukrainian and European officials who said it bowed to Moscow&#8217;s main demands on NATO, Russian control of a fifth of Ukraine and restrictions on Ukraine&#8217;s army.
(Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge in Moscow; Editing by Elaine Hardcastle)

Donald Trump/Vladimir Putin/Volodymyr Zelensky

U.S. Envoy says Ukraine Peace Deal Is Close, But Moscow Wants Radical Change

Ukraine

Ukraine-Russia War

Vladimir Putin

Volodymyr Zelensky

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the second phase of a U.S. plan to end the war in Gaza was close, but cautioned several key issues still needed to be resolved, including whether a multinational security force would be deployed.
Netanyahu, speaking to reporters alongside German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in Jerusalem, said that he would hold important discussions with U.S. President Donald Trump at the end of the month on how to ensure the plan&#8217;s second phase was achieved.
The prime minister&#8217;s office in November said that Trump had invited Netanyahu to the White House &#8220;in the near future,&#8221; although a date for the visit has not yet been made public.
Netanyahu said that he would discuss with Trump how to bring an end to Hamas rule in Gaza. A ceasefire between Israel and Hamas is entering its second month, although both sides have repeatedly accused each other of violating the truce agreement.
Netanyahu said that it was important to ensure Hamas not only upholds the ceasefire but also follows through on &#8220;their commitment&#8221; to the plan to disarm and for Gaza to be demilitarized.
Israel retained control of 53% of Gaza under the first phase of Trump&#8217;s plan, which involved the release of hostages held by militants in Gaza and of Palestinians detained by Israel. The final hostage remains to be handed over are those of an Israeli police officer killed on October 7, 2023 fighting Gazan militants who had invaded Israel.
&#8220;We&#8217;ll get him out,&#8221; Netanyahu said.
Since the ceasefire started in October, the militant group has reestablished itself in the rest of Gaza.
According to the plan, Israel is to pull back further in the second phase as a transitional authority is established in Gaza and a multinational security force is deployed, Hamas is disarmed, and reconstruction begins.
A multinational coordination centre has been established in Israel, but there are no deadlines in the plan and officials involved say that efforts to advance it have stalled.
&#8220;What will be the timeline? What are the forces that are coming in? Will we have international forces? If not, what are the alternatives? These are all topics that are being discussed,&#8221; Netanyahu said, describing them as central issues.
Merz said that Germany was willing to help rebuild Gaza but would wait for Netanyahu&#8217;s meeting with Trump, and for clarity on what Washington was prepared to do, before Berlin decides what it would contribute but that phase two &#8220;must come now&#8221;.
Israel has repeatedly carried out air strikes since the ceasefire came into effect that it says are fending off attacks or destroying militant infrastructure. Gaza&#8217;s health ministry says 373 Palestinians have been killed since the ceasefire started. Three Israeli soldiers have been killed by militants.
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Netanyahu said that he would also discuss with Trump &#8220;opportunities for peace&#8221;, an apparent reference to U.S. efforts for Israel to establish formal ties with Arab and Muslim states.
&#8220;We believe there&#8217;s a path to advance a broader peace with the Arab states, and a path also to establish a workable peace with our Palestinian neighbours,&#8221; Netanyahu said, asserting Israel would always insist on security control of the West Bank.
Trump has said he promised Muslim leaders that Israel would not annex the occupied West Bank, where Netanyahu&#8217;s government is backing the development of Jewish settlements.
The &#8220;question of political annexation&#8221; of the West Bank remains a subject of discussion, Netanyahu said.
(Reporting by Alexander Cornwell and Andreas Rinke, additional reporting by Steven Scheer and Christoph Steitz; Editing by Louise Heavens and Philippa Fletcher)

Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu Meets With Trump At The White House

Phase Two Of Gaza Plan: Trump, Netanyahu Prep For Next Steps

Benjamin Netanyahu

Gaza

Hamas

Israel

U.S. President Donald Trump&#8217;s plan to take government equity stakes in strategic industries doesn&#8217;t apply to major defense firms, the head of Boeing&#8217;s defense unit said on Saturday, in contrast to previous comments by a senior government official.
The government wants industry to make investments in facilities, and large contractors are expected be able to do this without government assistance, Steve Parker, Chief Executive Officer of Boeing Defense, Space &amp; Security, said on a panel at the Reagan National Defense Forum, an annual industry event in Simi Valley, California.
Speaking about the prospect of the U.S. government investing in exchange for ownership rights, &#8220;it really only applies on the supply chain, particularly for the smaller companies coming through where that might be a way forward for them,&#8221; Parker said.
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&#8220;I don&#8217;t think it really applies to the Primes,&#8221; Parker added, referring to big legacy defense contractors like Boeing, Lockheed Martin, RTX and Northrop Grumman.
Parker pointed to Boeing&#8217;s recent billions invested in St. Louis, Missouri where the company makes fighter jets.
In August, U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said the Trump administration was weighing equity stakes in major defense contractors, including Lockheed Martin, a move that sent shares of Lockheed, Boeing and other defense firms higher.
This year, the Trump administration has taken equity stakes in chipmaker Intel and rare earths company MP Materials, in an effort to prioritize national security in critical sectors where China has become increasingly dominant. Trump has said the government will take stakes in more companies.
(Reporting by Mike Stone and Joe Brock; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Deepa Babington)

Boeing

Boeing Says Trump’s Equity Stake Plan Doesn’t Apply To Them

Department of Defense

Economy

National Security

A large-scale Russian drone and missile attack damaged power facilities in eight Ukrainian regions, causing blackouts and forcing nuclear power plants to cut power output, officials and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said on Saturday.
Russia has intensified its attacks on Ukraine&#8217;s energy sector and infrastructure in recent weeks, targeting power stations and railway hubs as winter deepens and the war approaches its fourth anniversary.
There was no breakthrough in U.S.-brokered talks this week aimed at ending the conflict.
Ukraine operates three nuclear power plants which produce more than half of the country&#8217;s electricity and IAEA said the plants cut production due to &#8220;widespread military activities overnight&#8221;.
The Ukrainian military said Russia had launched 653 drones and 51 missiles on Ukraine overnight. Ukrainian forces downed 585 drones and 30 missiles, the military said.
Power and heat generation facilities in Chernihiv, Zaporizhzhia, Lviv, and Dnipropetrovsk regions were targeted in the attack, Ukraine&#8217;s ministry for development of communities and territories said.
It said on Telegram that 9,500 customers remained without heat and 34,000 without water supply in the southern Odesa region.
&#8220;Port facilities (in Odesa) have also been attacked: part of the infrastructure has been de-energised, and operators have switched to backup power from generators,&#8221; the ministry said.
&#8220;Emergency repair work is already underway where safety conditions permit. Energy companies are doing everything possible to restore power to all customers as quickly as possible,&#8221; the energy ministry said on Telegram.
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Among the sites hit overnight was a railway hub near Kyiv, where the depot and railway carriages were damaged, Ukrainian state railway company Ukrzaliznytsia said.
The railway did not report any casualties from the attack, in the town of Fastiv.
&#8220;Russia continues to disregard any peace efforts and instead strikes critical civilian infrastructure, including our energy system and railways,&#8221; Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said on X.
&#8220;This shows that no decisions to strengthen Ukraine and raise pressure on Russia can be delayed. And especially not under the pretext of peace process,&#8221; he added.
Ukrzaliznytsia said on the Telegram messaging app that it was forced to cancel several suburban trains near the capital and the city of Chernihiv in northeastern Ukraine.
The Russian Defence Ministry said its forces launched a &#8220;massive strike&#8221; overnight in response to what it called Ukrainian attacks on civilian targets.
The ministry said the strike used high-precision, long-range air- and ground-based weapons, including Kinzhal hypersonic missiles and long-range drones.
It targeted Ukraine&#8217;s military-industrial enterprises, energy facilities supporting their operations, and port infrastructure used for military purposes, the ministry added.
Separately, sirens sounded early on Saturday in Lubartow in the Lublin region of eastern Poland, private broadcaster RMF FM reported.
RMF quoted local mayor Krzysztof Pasnik as saying the warning was activated due to the situation in Ukraine.
Poland scrambled jets overnight due to the Russian attacks on Ukraine, but the Operational Command of the Armed Forces said there were no airspace violations.
(Reporting by Pavel Polityuk; additional reporting by Alan Charlish in Warsaw; Editing by William Mallard, Bernadette Baum and Aidan Lewis)

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SpaceX has informed investors and representatives of financial institutions that it plans to pursue an initial public offering in the second half of next year, the Information reported on Friday, citing two people familiar with the discussions.
The rocket-maker, founded by Elon Musk, is considering a public listing of the entire company, including Starlink, its internet satellite service, according to the report.
Musk had said in 2020 that SpaceX planned to list Starlink several years in the future, once its revenue growth became smooth and predictable.
SpaceX did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
The news of the potential IPO follows a media report that said SpaceX is kicking off a secondary share sale that would value the rocket-maker at $800 billion, pitting it against OpenAI for the title of the most valuable private company.
SpaceX&#8217;s finance chief, Bret Johnsen, told investors about the sale in recent days, the Wall Street Journal reported earlier on Friday, citing people familiar with the matter. The new potential valuation is double the $400 billion value it fetched in a recent secondary share sale.
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The $800 billion valuation would put SpaceX ahead of ChatGPT-parent OpenAI, which is valued at $500 billion as of October, making it the most valuable privately held company in the world, according to Crunchbase data.
Separately, Bloomberg News on Friday reported that SpaceX is preparing to sell insider shares that could include a per-share price of around $300, which would value the company at roughly $560 billion.
Several billionaires and private firms, including SpaceX and Jeff Bezos&#8217; Blue Origin, are fueling a new space race in the U.S., pouring money into rockets, satellites and lunar missions.
(Reporting by Juby Babu in Mexico City; Editing by Alan Barona)

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President Donald Trump aims to prevent conflict with China over Taiwan and the South China Sea by building up U.S. and allies&#8217; military power, according to a new U.S. strategy document.
The Trump administration laid out its approach to one of the world&#8217;s most sensitive diplomatic issues in an official National Security Strategy document, released on Friday. It comes as Beijing ratchets up pressure on democratically governed Taiwan and Japan, deploying vessels across East Asian waters this week in its largest maritime show of force to date.
&#8220;Deterring a conflict over Taiwan, ideally by preserving military overmatch, is a priority,&#8221; said the document, a periodically updated vision statement from the administration to Congress and the first since Trump took office in January.
China views Taiwan as its own, and Beijing has never renounced the use of force to bring Taiwan under its control. China also has vast regional claims, including almost the entire South China Sea, which are disputed by many of its smaller neighbors.
The United States has no formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan but Washington is the island&#8217;s most important international backer and is required by law to provide Taiwan with the means to defend itself. The issue has been an irritant in U.S.-China relations for years.
The document&#8217;s language on Taiwan is stronger than the national security strategy produced during Trump&#8217;s first term in office. The document in 2017 mentioned Taiwan three times in a single sentence, echoing longstanding diplomatic language.
The updated strategy, however, mentions Taiwan eight times across three paragraphs and concludes that &#8220;there is, rightly, much focus on Taiwan&#8221; because of its strategic location in trade-rich waters and dominance in semiconductor manufacturing.
&#8220;We will build a military capable of denying aggression anywhere,&#8221; in the chain of islands stretching from Japan to Southeast Asia, said the latest document. &#8220;But the American military cannot, and should not have to, do this alone. Our allies must step up and spend &#8211; and more importantly do &#8211; much more for collective defense.&#8221;
That will reinforce &#8220;U.S. and allies&#8217; capacity to deny any attempt to seize Taiwan&#8221; or any other steps that would &#8220;make defending that island impossible,&#8221; the report said.
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Trump, a Republican, has largely avoided directly saying how he would respond to a rise in tensions over the island.
Trump&#8217;s penchant for dealmaking and effort to seek closer ties with Chinese President Xi Jinping have kindled fears in the region of weakening U.S. support for Taiwan and regional allies from Tokyo to Manila. Trump plans to travel to Beijing in April, where the leaders will discuss extending the truce in their trade war.
Last month, Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi drew Beijing&#8217;s wrath when she told parliament that a hypothetical Chinese attack on Taiwan that threatened Japan could justify a military response. Trump privately asked Takaichi not to escalate the dispute with China, Reuters previously reported.
But Trump also signed a new law requiring his administration to regularly review how it interacts with Taipei. It also approved the sale of fighter jet and other aircraft parts to Taiwan for $330 million. Both were seen as signs of support by Taiwan. Trump has also pressed Japan and South Korea, two key regional allies, to hike defense spending.
(Reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt; editing by Philippa Fletcher, Don Durfee and Diane Craft)

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