As fresh Russian missiles and drones pounded the Kyiv region overnight — killing four people, including a child — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky arrived in Belgrade with a stark message: Ukraine is heading into winter with almost no functioning thermal power plants.
Standing beside Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic during his first official visit to the Serbian capital, Mr Zelensky said the latest overnight attacks, combined with shelling along the front line, had left 13 people dead over the past 24 hours.
“Russian missiles are aimed precisely at making the lives of Ukrainians unbearable,” Mr Zelensky told reporters, arguing that Moscow’s strikes repeatedly focus on energy targets.
Ukraine, he said, now has “virtually no intact thermal power plants” as the country braces for the heating season.
Those plants play a crucial supporting role for the nuclear power that also supplies electricity to Ukraine’s grid.
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More than four years after Russia began its large-scale offensive, both sides have intensified long-range attacks, a pattern increasingly reflected in rising civilian casualties.
In recent months, Russia has sharply increased strikes on the Ukrainian capital, often launching volleys of ballistic missiles that are difficult to intercept. Ukraine has been urging allies for additional US-made Patriot interceptor missiles and other Western air-defence systems.
Ukraine has also stepped up its own campaign, firing record numbers of drones at targets inside Russia in response.
Zelensky calls for tougher sanctions
After talks with Mr Vucic during the first leg of a two-day visit to Serbia, Mr Zelensky again pressed for stronger sanctions aimed at choking off supplies of missile components reaching Russia from “almost every continent, including from our close partners”.
“These components arrive, and then missiles strike people, killing children, civilians and soldiers,” he said.
Mr Zelensky also said Ukraine needs greater access to interceptor missiles as long-range attacks escalate.
Serbia is among the few European countries that has not imposed sanctions on Russia, a longtime ally of Belgrade.
Aleksandar Vučić is to hold official talks with Volodymyr Zelensky today
Mr Vucic, whose administration continues to provide non-military assistance to Ukraine, said the leaders had discussed the war but that Serbia’s policy remained unchanged.
“We did not discuss any military cooperation today or at present. What will happen when the war ends is another matter,” Mr Vucic said.
Mr Zelensky, who has travelled widely seeking backing since Russia’s 2022 invasion, had not been to Serbia since taking office in 2019.
The Kremlin has alleged Serbian companies sold munitions to Ukraine, an accusation Mr Vucic has repeatedly rejected.
Mr Vucic attended a regional summit in Ukraine in 2025 and visited Kyiv this year.
He has pledged help for Ukraine while stopping short of signing a formal declaration of support in the war.
On Saturday, the Serbian president also underlined that his stance in support of Ukraine’s territorial integrity had not wavered.
Three-year-old killed in Russian attack on Kyiv
The Belgrade visit followed another overnight Russian barrage of missiles and drones that struck primarily Kyiv and nearby areas.
Dozen of explosions were heard in Kyiv as Ukraine’s air force warned of the “threat of ballistic weapon use from the north”.
Mr Zelensky said shelling also hit communities all along the front line, wounding dozens. He said a three-year-old boy was among three people killed in a strike on the village of Pukhivka outside Kyiv.
“Four more people were hospitalised: the child’s parents, his 15-year-old brother, and a neighbour who came to the family’s aid and was wounded in a double-tap strike,” Mr Zelensky said earlier in a post on X.
He also reported that one person was killed in a Russian strike involving six ballistic missiles that hit civilian infrastructure in Kyiv.
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