Ukraine updates: 'We need these tanks,' Kyiv tells Berlin

Oleksii Makeiev, the new Ukrainian ambassador in Berlin, said Kyiv is counting on the delivery of battle tanks from Germany to help it repel Russian forces.

Ukraine is currently in talks with the German government about acquiring modern, Western-made tanks, such as the Leopard 2.

"We have reason to hope that the decision will be made to deliver the Leopard 2 from Germany directly to Ukraine," Makeiev told newspapers from the Funke media group on Saturday. "We need these tanks."

He added that it was "time to stop talking about not wanting to provoke Russia. What else is going to happen? How many Buchas, Mariupols or Iziums — places of rape and mass graves — should there be?"

Germany has "shown leadership" with the delivery of the IRIS-T air defense system, the diplomat said. "And we expect this leadership role in other weapon systems. These include main battle tanks and armored vehicles."

Kyiv has repeatedly asked for modern battle tanks as it seeks to recapture territory in the south and east of the country.

Since Russia's invasion in February, Germany has sent Ukraine 30 decommissioned Gepard anti-aircraft tanks, 10 Panzerhaubitze 2000 howitzers and three Mars multiple rocket launchers. Berlin has also taken part in circular exchanges with third states to provide weapons indirectly to Ukraine. But it has held off on supplying Western-made battle tanks directly. 

Makeiev officially became his country's ambassador to Germany last week. He succeeded Andriy Melnyk, who became known for making unusually sharp criticisms of the German government.

Here are the other main headlines from the war in Ukraine on Saturday, November 5:

Scholz urges Russia to rule out nuclear weapons use

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz called on Russia to explicitly rule out the use of nuclear weapons in Ukraine.

"It is not permitted, it is unjustifiable, to use nuclear weapons in this conflict," Scholz said Saturday during a meeting of his center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD) in Berlin. "We call on Russia to clearly state that it will not do so. That would be a line that must not be crossed."    

Scholz recently made a controversial visit to China, where he met with President Xi Jinping. He said the trip was worthwhile, because Xi declared during the visit "that no nuclear weapons should be used in this war." 

At the same time, Xi did not explicitly criticizes Russia's invasion during the meeting with Scholz

Zelenskyy says Iranian officials are 'lying' about drones

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Iranian authorities of "lying" when it comes to Tehran supplying Russia with drones. 

Earlier in the day, an Iranian official admitted that Tehran equipped Russia with drones, but said it was prior to the ongoing invasion of Ukraine. 

"We shoot down at least ten Iranian drones every day, and the Iranian regime claims it allegedly gave little and even before the start of the full-scale invasion," Zelenskyy said. "Only during one day yesterday, 11 Shahed drones were destroyed. We know for sure that Iranian instructors taught Russian terrorists how to use drones, and Tehran is generally silent about it."

"And if Iran continues lying about the obvious, it means that the world will make even more efforts to investigate the terrorist cooperation between the Russian and Iranian regimes and what Russia is paying Iran for such cooperation," he added. "There will be no such thing in the modern world that any of the terrorists or their accomplices will remain unpunished."  

Moscow, Kyiv exchange heavy artillery fire in south, east — military reports

Russian and Ukrainian forces have exchanged heavy artillery fire in the south and east of Ukraine, according to military reports.

Ukrainian authorities said that Kyiv's forces had destroyed Russian positions in the eastern regions of Luhansk and Donetsk.

The Russian Defense Mininstry said that "Ukrainian attacks" had been repelled in the two regions, as well as in the southern region of Kherson.

The reports spoke of hundreds of dead on each side.

The dpa news agency said that it could not independently verify the reports.

Planned blackouts in Kyiv and 7 regions — national grid operator

Ukraine's national grid operator Ukrenergo said that it would step up power cuts in Kyiv and seven regions.

It said that the blackout was in response to an increase in electricity consumption.

"Temporary controlled restrictions on all categories of consumers are necessary to reduce the load on networks, support the sustainable balancing of the energy system and avoid repeated accidents," Ukrenergo said, also calling on Ukrainians to conserve energy, particularly in the morning and evening.

Ukraine's power grid has been targeted by Russian strikes in recent weeks, leading to energy providers resorting to planned power cuts to allow infrastructure to be repaired.

Iran acknowledges sending drones to Russia

Iran's foreign minister, Hossein Amirabdollahian, has acknowledged for the first time that his country has supplied Russia with drones.

However, he said the transfer came before Moscow's invasion of Ukraine and denied Tehran was continuing to supply drones to Moscow.

Ukraine says Russia has deployed Iranian-made "kamikaze" drones to divebomb Kyiv and other cities — a charge Moscow denies.

"This fuss made by some Western countries that Iran has provided missiles and drones to Russia to help the war in Ukraine — the missile part is completely wrong," Amirabdollahian was quoted by the official IRNA news agency as saying.

"The drone part is true, and we provided Russia a small number of drones months before the Ukraine war," he said.

Until now, Iranian officials had denied such shipments. 

Amirabdollahian claimed that Iran was oblivious to the use of its drones in Ukraine. He said Tehran remained committed to stopping the conflict.

"If (Ukraine) has any documents in their possession that Russia used Iranian drones in Ukraine, they should provide them to us," he said. "If it is proven to us that Russia used Iranian drones in the war against Ukraine, we will not be indifferent to this issue."

Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard has vaguely boasted of providing drones to the world's top powers. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has also extolled the efficacy of the drones and mocked Western hand-wringing over their danger.

During state-backed demonstrations to mark the 1979 US Embassy takeover on Friday, crowds waved placards of the triangle-shaped drones as a point of national pride.

Meanwhile, Ukraine warned Iran that "the consequences of complicity" with Moscow would be "greater than the benefit" of Russian support after Tehran admitted for the first time sending drones to Russia. 

"Tehran should realize that the consequences of complicity in the crimes of the Russian Federation's aggression against Ukraine will be much greater than the benefit of Russia's support," Ukraine's foreign ministry spokesman Oleg Nikolenko wrote on Facebook.

Zelenskyy says Ukraine 'holding positions' in Donbas

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says the heaviest fighting in the country is currently concentrated in the towns of Bakhmut and Soledar in the eastern Donetsk region.

"We are holding the positions," Zelenskyy said, despite Russia's mobilization of more than 300,000 reservists for its invasion. Moscow has already lost thousands of soldiers in the area, he said in his nightly video address.

The Ukrainian president also said he sees no willingness on the part of Moscow to negotiate an end to the war against his country.

Russia is sending tens or hundreds of thousands of people to fight; but those who want to negotiate would not let people die in the "meat grinder," Zelenskyy said.

Once again, he stressed that Ukraine would fight until it had fully restored its original state borders.

Russia likely struggling to provide training for conscripts — UK Defense Ministry

Russia is probably struggling to provide military training for its current mobilization drive and its annual autumn conscription intake, the British Defence Ministry said in its latest intelligence update.

According to the ministry, newly mobilized conscripts likely have minimal training or no training at all.

"Experienced officers and trainers have been deployed to fight in Ukraine and some have likely been killed in the conflict," the update read.

Russian forces are conducting training in Belarus due to a shortage of training staff, munitions and facilities in Russia, the ministry added.

More from DW's coverage of Russia's invasion of Ukraine

Ukraine's largest nuclear power plant in the region of Zaporizhzhia is now running on backup generators after shelling cut off power. The national nuclear power authorities believe the Kremlin intends to connect the plant to Russia's grid.

wd, dh/nm (Reuters, AFP, AP, dpa)