Missile attacks wound 9 as Ukraine prepares for talks with Russia and U.S.

Missile attacks struck across Ukraine on Saturday, wounding at least nine people, as Kyiv and Moscow prepared for new talks next week with the United States.

Negotiations set for Abu Dhabi

Negotiators from Russia, Ukraine and the U.S. are to meet on Tuesday in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, for talks aimed at ending the war. The new round of negotiations would be the fourth brokered by the Trump administration, the most recent having been in Geneva in February. Western governments backing the peace initiative are seeking a new formula to break the impasse while acknowledging that territorial and security questions remain unresolved.

Attacks on Kyiv

The Russian missiles that hit overnight across the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, damaged homes and commercial properties, triggering new power and water outages, national and city authorities said. Strikes also prompted officials to close Kyiv’s 816-meter-long (892-yard-long) Northern Bridge, a major route connecting the city with large residential areas on the east bank of the Dnipro River.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said that work was already underway to repair the city’s Northern Bridge and that water pressure in Kyiv had been stabilized. Earlier Saturday, he had described the city’s energy situation as “extremely difficult, affecting the city’s heating and water supply systems.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russia was preparing for trilateral talks by “launching ballistic missiles at Ukraine’s critical infrastructure.” The Ukrainian leader said that Russia fired 36 ballistic missiles at Kyiv and the surrounding region overnight. The barrage also involved 172 drones over Kyiv and 12 other regions, wounding nine people, including a child, he said.

“When Russia tries to plunge Kyiv — a city of millions — and the entire country into a blackout, Ukraine must not be left to face this alone,” Zelenskyy said. He urged greater U.S. support and attention from Congress, calling for bipartisan backing for Ukraine and stronger sanctions on Russia.

Ukraine’s Energy Ministry said Saturday’s missile attacks damaged networks that carry electricity from nuclear power plants to Kyiv and central regions, as well as multiple other power facilities. It said outages were most widespread in the Kyiv and central Zhytomyr regions, as well as in the eastern regions of Kharkiv, Donetsk and Dnipropetrovsk. The outages were separate from scheduled rolling blackouts imposed to protect the grid, which remain in effect across much of Ukraine.

Russia’s Ministry of Defense confirmed Saturday that it had targeted the Northern Bridge, saying that it facilitated the transport of weaponry, military hardware and specialist equipment for Ukraine’s armed forces. It also said that it had targeted an industrial facility in the capital producing Flamingo missiles, as well as a power station, an electrical substation, and a plant producing ammunition, explosives and gunpowder in the wider Kyiv region. It also confirmed striking an electrical substation in the Zhytomyr region.

Other developments

In southern Ukraine, a recovery operation continued into its sixth day in the village of Komyshuvakha, devastated on Monday when multiple Russian guided bombs slammed into a former school and nearby shelter as residents waited for humanitarian aid. Emergency services said they had recovered nine more bodies in the previous 24 hours, bringing the death toll early Saturday morning to 55. Dozens of people remain missing.

A Ukrainian attack killed one person in Russia’s Belgorod region when a drone hit a private home in the town of Grayvoron, local officials said Saturday. Russia’s Ministry of Defense said its forces shot down 411 Ukrainian drones overnight over 10 Russian regions, including Belgorod. Drones were also destroyed over the annexed Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea and the Black and Azov Seas, it said.

Why it matters

The attacks occurred as the three countries prepared for a fourth round of U.S.-brokered talks aimed at ending the war, highlighting the gap between ongoing diplomacy and continued military strikes on both sides.

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Sources

• ctvnews.ca: Missile attacks wound 9 as Kyiv, Moscow set to talk with U.S.
• apnews.com: Missile attacks on Ukraine wound 9 ahead of talk with Russia and US | AP News
• huffpost.com: Missile Attacks Wound 9 As Ukraine Prepares For Talks With Russia And The U.S. | HuffPost Latest News

This article was drafted with AI assistance and checked against the sources above. Company claims are reported as claims. Cover image is AI-generated.