Following a raid last week on a Ukrainian Orthodox monastery that Kyiv said was possibly housing Russian spies, Ukraine’s president asked lawmakers to pass legislation that would ban the operation of religious organizations “affiliated with centers of influence” in Russia.

President Volodymyr Zelensky proposed the new measures in his nightly address to Ukraine on Thursday. His request came after a Nov. 22 raid by Ukrainian security services of the Monastery of the Caves, one of the holiest sites for Orthodox Christians in Kyiv, in search of saboteurs and weapons.

The Ukrainian Orthodox Church has recently come under scrutiny from Ukrainian officials who suspect that many priests are collaborating with Russia and worry that the church is promoting pro-Russian views. That branch of the Eastern Orthodox Church followed spiritual leaders in Moscow up until this spring, when it publicly broke allegiance with Russia over the war. Still, many priests remain loyal to the Kremlin.

As of last month, Ukrainian officials have said, 33 priests had been arrested for assisting Russia since the invasion began in February. Most of them were charged with gathering intelligence and feeding it to Moscow’s forces.

The Kremlin condemned last week’s raid, saying it was proof that Kyiv is at war with the Russian Orthodox Church. Vladimir Legoyda, the spokesman for the Russian Orthodox Church, called the move “an act of intimidation” against the only remaining institution “where people both in Russia and Ukraine sincerely pray for peace.”

Mr. Zelensky said in his address on Thursday that the presence of Moscow-affiliated religious groups allows Russia to “manipulate Ukrainians and weaken Ukraine from within.”

He proposed several measures, including an outright ban on religious organizations affiliated with Russian “centers of influence” in Ukraine and amping up national security efforts “to identify and counter the subversive activities of Russian special services in the religious environment of Ukraine.”

“With these and other decisions, we guarantee Ukraine’s spiritual independence,” Mr. Zelensky said.

Russia’s foreign minister on Thursday defended Moscow’s attacks on Ukraine’s energy grid, calling infrastructure a legitimate military target despite warnings by the United Nations that such strikes could amount to war crimes.

Sergei V. Lavrov, Russia’s foreign minister, spoke at a news conference hours after Ukrainian officials said that Russian attacks had again knocked out power in the southern city of Kherson, the latest such assault in a country where strikes on infrastructure have left six million people across the country without power.

Drawing on familiar Kremlin themes framing the Ukraine war as a battle with the West, Mr. Lavrov said that Russia is hitting targets that are used to replenish Ukrainian forces with weapons provided by Western nations and that the Ukrainian forces rely on to operate. He did not elaborate.

The Ukrainian military has said that its forces have their own autonomous energy supply and the strikes had no impact on their fighting capability. But the toll on civilians is mounting: The strikes have knocked out electricity and water for millions of people in Ukraine, and Ukrainian and Western officials have accused Russia of trying to make life miserable for people by striking residential areas, electrical transformers, power plants and other civilian targets.

“Heat, water, electricity — for the children, for the elderly, for the sick — these are President Putin’s new targets,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said at a meeting of NATO allies this week. “He’s hitting them hard. This brutalization of Ukraine’s people is barbaric.”

Mr. Lavrov said that Russia used high-precision weapons against Ukrainian energy facilities that support Kyiv’s combat operations and are used “to pump up Ukraine with Western weapons for it to kill Russians.”

He defended Russia’s strikes against Ukrainian areas that Moscow has illegally annexed and now considers its own territory, such as the Kherson region, comparing its assaults to Stalingrad, which was leveled during one of the bloodiest battles of World War II when Soviet forces achieved a pivotal victory against Nazi Germany.

“Stalingrad was our territory too and we have beaten Germans there so much that they ran away,” Mr. Lavrov said.

He also dismissed as “laughable” the idea that Moscow is trying to engage Kyiv in cease-fire negotiations as a way to buy time and replenish its forces amid setbacks on the battlefield. Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmitry Kuleba, has warned that a cease-fire would allow Russia’s “depleted invasion forces to take a break before returning for further aggression.”

“We have never asked for any negotiations,” Mr. Lavrov said. “But we have always said that if someone is interested in finding a negotiated solution, we are ready to listen.”

Mr. Lavrov also accused NATO of stirring up tensions elsewhere in the world, including with China, and of trying to drag India into what he called “an anti-Russian and anti-Chinese alliance.” India and China have both called for de-escalation after Russian strikes.

BRUSSELS — European Union ambassadors trying to reach an agreement on a top price for Russian oil continued to talk into Thursday evening, despite expectations that a deal was within reach.

The negotiations over the price cap on Russian oil sales, a policy led by the Group of 7 industrialized nations and other close allies of Ukraine, have been going on for more than a week at the seat of the European Union.

Negotiators from the 27 E.U. member nations need to agree on a price unanimously. The latest discussions were around a price point of $60 per barrel, several diplomats and officials said. That is lower than what was originally suggested by the G7, a victory for hard-line pro-Ukraine nations like Poland that wanted a lower price to limit Russian oil revenues.

A near-total embargo on Russian oil comes into force on Dec. 5 in the European Union. E.U. insurers and tankers — which comprise half the global fleet — would no longer be allowed to offer their services to transport Russian oil. It would not apply to buyers of Russian oil, like China and India, if they ship and insure the cargoes with companies from countries outside of the group imposing the cap.

Fearing a global oil crunch, the United States championed the price cap policy, which would permit European tankers and insurers to continue facilitating Russian oil exports as long as the oil they are transporting or insuring is sold at or below the capped price.

The benefit of this approach, according to its promoters, is that Russia loses some revenue as the cap is set lower than what its oil typically fetches on the market, but it has an incentive to continue selling its crude because the price is still high enough to generate vital income. A cap would also prevent the price of Russian oil from rising above a certain point if global prices were to rally.

Russian oil, also known as Urals crude, has ranged in price between $60 and $65 per barrel over the past week, trading at a significant discount to other types of oil.

Poland and a handful of allies had been the last holdouts in the E.U. negotiations. They were pushing for as low a price as possible to limit the oil revenue that helps finance the war in Ukraine, as well as a frequent revision of the price and more sanctions against Russia.

By Thursday evening, those points had seemingly been secured and E.U. diplomats entered what they hoped would be their last round of talks before sealing a deal. But Poland asked for an extension, several E.U. diplomats and officials said.

Wally Adeyemo, the deputy U.S. Treasury secretary, said on Thursday that he was encouraged by signs that the European Union was coalescing around a price. “My view is that we’re going to get this deal done,” Mr. Adeyemo said at an event sponsored by Reuters, adding that he was optimistic that Poland would back an agreement that the rest of its allies would then ratify.

Polish diplomats expressed optimism that an agreement was within reach, while others complained that the process had already dragged out too long and threatened to make Ukraine’s European allies appear fragmented.

Alan Rappeport contributed reporting.

WASHINGTON — President Biden on Thursday said he would talk with President Vladimir Putin if the Russian leader expresses a desire to end his invasion of Ukraine, but Mr. Biden said he would only do so in consultation with NATO allies.

“I’m prepared if he’s willing to talk to find out what he’s willing to do,” Mr. Biden said during a news conference at the White House following a three-hour meeting with President Emmanuel Macron of France. “But I’ll only do it in consultation with my NATO allies. I’m not going to do it on my own.”

Mr. Biden, who has backed Ukraine’s drive to win the war outright, made the statement after condemning Mr. Putin for the invasion, calling the Russian president’s actions “sick.”

After their private meeting, Mr. Biden and Mr. Macron lavished praise on each other, playing down tensions about the handling of the nine-month war in Europe and French anger over what they see as unfair economic policies by the Biden administration.

In the news conference, Mr. Biden acknowledged that France and the United States occasionally have “some slight differences, but never in a fundamental way.” And he stressed the unity being shown by the two countries opposing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

“Today, we reaffirm that, as I said, we’re going to stand together against this brutality,” Mr. Biden said. “And we’ll continue strong support for the Ukrainian people as they defend their homes and their families and their nurseries, their hospitals, their sovereignty, their integrity, and against Russian aggression.”

For his part, Mr. Macron said that France would continue to support Ukraine and allow its leaders to set their own terms for ending the war.

“We will never urge Ukrainians to make a compromise which will not be acceptable for them,” he said in English. He added, “If we want a sustainable peace, we have to respect Ukrainians to decide the moment and the conditions in which they will negotiate about their territory and their future.”

For the last few weeks, Russia has bombarded Ukraine’s energy infrastructure in a bid to turn cold and dark into weapons of war. How effective that strategy will be could depend on the severity of the looming winter.

Though there are variations across the country, Ukraine typically experiences frigid winters. Mean temperatures between December and March range from 23 degrees Fahrenheit (-5 Celsius), to 36 degrees Fahrenheit (2 Celsius), according to the World Bank Group. It can get far colder: The lowest temperature Ukraine’s weather observatory has on record is -42 degrees Fahrenheit (-41 Celsius) in January 1935 at a station in the Luhansk region in the country’s east.

On Thursday, when the daytime temperature in the capital, Kyiv, hovered around freezing, the city’s mayor suggested residents consider a temporary evacuation. “I appeal to the people of Kyiv — who can, who have relatives, acquaintances in the suburbs, in private houses where you can live temporarily — to consider such options,” the mayor, Vitali Klitschko, said at a security forum.

It was the latest sign that Ukrainian officials, who have been racing to restore electricity supplies and the running water and internet access that depend on them, are well aware of the looming problem as winter begins to bite. They have appealed for help from the United States and Europe and are preparing centers where civilians can gather to find warmth, light and internet access.

In a speech this week, President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine attempted to rally the population to confront the situation.

“We will pass this challenge of war as well — this winter, this Russian attempt to use the cold against people,” he said.

Winter also alters the conditions on the battlefield, for soldiers and equipment.

The lack of foliage makes it more difficult to conceal artillery and troops, both from observers on the ground and from drones, which have been widely used by both sides in the conflict. In recent weeks, muddy conditions may have contributed to a slowdown in operations as military vehicles had difficulty maneuvering across open countryside, but that could change as temperatures fall and the ground freezes.

Daily existence for soldiers living in trenches as protection against enemy shelling is much harder in mud and cold, with foot infections a particular problem.

Norway and Canada have both said they would provide winter clothing to Ukraine as part of their military aid. And there are credible reports that the newly mobilized Russian soldiers sent to the front have not been adequately equipped to deal with winter, said Ben Barry, a senior fellow for land warfare at the International Institute for Strategic Studies.

“The most important thing is that the demands of living and fighting in cold or wet weather confers an advantage on the side with the best leadership, morale, equipment and training,” he said. “So Ukraine has an advantage in this area.”

Four lion cubs orphaned during the war in Ukraine have arrived at the Minnesota animal sanctuary that will be their new permanent home.

The cubs — named Taras, Stefania, Prada and Lesya — were transported to The Wildcat Sanctuary in Sandstone, Minn., this week. Bred for the exotic pet trade, the cubs were born after the invasion began and range in age from 4 months to 6 months.

But the four young cats were abandoned as the fighting escalated. They were taken in by animal shelters in Odesa and Kyiv before spending the last month in a Polish zoo while arrangements were made for their move to the United States.

“After their long journey, all four cubs were merged and were seen cuddling up together for a much-deserved rest,” Tammy Thies, the founder of The Wildcat Sanctuary, said in a statement.

The four cubs came from two different litters: three were born in Odesa and one in Kyiv. It was unclear what happened to their parents.

The International Fund for Animal Welfare, a nonprofit animal aid organization that helped coordinate the relocation effort, estimates that 200 lions are currently kept as pets in Ukraine. But Ukrainians fleeing their homes have sometimes had no choice but to leave beloved pets behind.

“As the war rages on, they face increasingly grim outcomes,” Meredith Whitney, a program manager at the organization, said in a statement.

Once their final permits were issued this week, the cubs were flown from Poland to Chicago, then driven eight hours to the sanctuary about 80 miles north of Minneapolis.

The young lions will have indoor “bedrooms” and access to a large outdoor habitat full of caves and toys where they can roam freely, according to the sanctuary.