Russia's war on Ukraine latest news: Kyiv attacks occupied Melitopol

The Russian-installed said a missile attack killed two people and injured 10, while the exiled mayor said scores of "invaders" were killed. CONFLICT * All non-critical infrastructure in the Ukrainian port of Odesa was without power after Russia used Iranian-made drones to hit two energy facilities, leaving 1.5 million people without power, officials said.

Ukraine attacked occupied Melitopol, a strategically located city in the country's southeast. The Russian-installed said a missile attack killed two people and injured 10, while the exiled mayor said scores of "invaders" were killed. CONFLICT

* All non-critical infrastructure in the Ukrainian port of Odesa was without power after Russia used Iranian-made drones to hit two energy facilities, leaving 1.5 million people without power, officials said. * Serhiy Bratchuk, spokesperson for Odesa's regional administration, denied that any officials had called for evacuation. He said a Facebook post to that effect, since deleted, was being investigated by Ukraine's security services as "an element of the hybrid war" by Russia.

* Reuters could not verify the battlefield reports. DIPLOMACY, CULTURE

* Russian President Vladimir Putin is determined to conquer parts of Ukraine and shows no restraint in his brutality, but it is still important to keep contacts open in case a moment arrives to end the war, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said. * Russia wants to turn Ukraine into a "dependent dictatorship" like Belarus, the wife of jailed Belarusian Nobel Peace Prize laureate Ales Byalyatski said upon receiving the prize on his behalf, speaking his words.

* Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, freed in a prisoner swap for U.S. basketball star Brittney Griner, said he wished her good luck on the tarmac in Abu Dhabi where they were exchanged on Thursday. ECONOMY

* A dozen countries including Belgium, Italy, Poland and Slovenia have made a push to "significantly" lower a planned European Union cap on gas prices, as the bloc struggles to strike a deal on the measure. * The Russian-installed administration of Ukraine's Kherson region said it had begun changing locally circulated Ukrainian hryvnia currency into Russian roubles, with hryvnia circulation in Moscow-controlled areas of the region to end on Jan. 1.