Kyiv woke to the thud of explosions after Russia launched an overnight barrage of missiles and drones at energy sites around the capital, squeezing electricity and heating supplies as temperatures moved towards zero, Ukrainian officials said.
The assault came three days before Russia and Ukraine are scheduled to join US-brokered talks, with blasts echoing across Kyiv as Moscow fired waves of ballistic missiles. Several struck and damaged the Northern Bridge over the Dnipro River, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said.
Ukraine’s energy ministry said strikes on facilities outside Kyiv caused serious damage, including to systems that transmit electricity from two nuclear power plants to the city and to central regions. Officials reported at least two people killed and about a dozen wounded nationwide.
“The capital is facing serious difficulties with its electricity, water, and heat supplies,” President Volodymyr Zelensky said on X, adding that substations in five other regions were also hit.
Ukraine’s air force said Russia fired 36 ballistic missiles and that only four were intercepted. It also reported air defences shot down 149 of 172 drones.
“Russia is preparing for trilateral talks by launching ballistic missiles at Ukraine’s critical infrastructure,” Mr Zelensky said.
The attacks also follow recent US midterm elections that have raised hopes in Ukraine for stronger support against Russia’s war from a Democratic-controlled Congress.
“We are counting on the US Congress to give more attention to Ukraine, because Russia keeps increasing the number of its attacks,” Mr Zelensky added.
Moscow’s defence ministry said it hit what it called targets linked to Ukraine’s military-industrial sector, along with energy and transport infrastructure in and around Kyiv.
Russian authorities said Ukraine also carried out drone and missile attacks on several Russian regions, causing minor damage but no casualties.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said ‘Several missiles hit the Northern Bridge’, damaging its road surface
Two dead, dozens wounded across Ukraine
Authorities said the overnight strikes killed at least two people and wounded around a dozen others across Ukraine, while also damaging homes, businesses and non-residential buildings.
Russia’s defence ministry repeated that it had carried out a massive strike on what it described as military-industrial targets, as well as energy and transport infrastructure in and around Kyiv.
With its ground offensive largely stalled, Russia has intensified air attacks more than 4-1/2 years into its full-scale invasion, repeatedly targeting energy infrastructure in major cities with missiles and drones that officials say are difficult to intercept.
In recent weeks, Ukraine has said the campaign has widened to include attacks on Kyiv’s bridges, worsening traffic in a city of more than 3 million people.
Ukrainian and Russian officials are due to take part in three-way talks in Abu Dhabi from Tuesday to Wednesday as part of a US-backed peace push that has so far yielded few results.
Russia’s delegation for the first trilateral talks since February will include senior military officials and diplomats including Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Russia’s Interfax news agency.
Russia’s delegation, headed by Kremlin aide Vladimir Medinsky, will also include Yuri Zhigarlovsky, a senior General Staff officer, Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin and military intelligence chief Igor Kostyukov, the report said.
The attacks also follow US midterm elections that have raised hopes in Ukraine for stronger support against Russia’s war from a Democratic-controlled Congress.
“We are counting on the US Congress to give more attention to Ukraine, because Russia keeps increasing the number of its attacks,” Mr Zelensky added.
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Zelensky says more ‘personnel changes’ to come at SBU after corruption scandal
President Zelensky said today that further “personnel decisions” would follow at Ukraine’s SBU domestic security service after dismissals linked to a corruption scandal that has fuelled public anger.
In his evening address, Mr Zelensky said anti-corruption police had uncovered allegations that senior security and law enforcement officials were protecting a criminal ring — something he called “frankly shameful, absolutely unacceptable”.
“There have already been dismissals in the Security Service of Ukraine because of this, and there will be other personnel decisions,” he said.
