Russia fired 36 ballistic missiles and 172 drones at Ukraine overnight, damaging energy infrastructure and the Northern Bridge in Kyiv, as trilateral talks with the US and Ukraine are set for Abu Dhabi next week.
Russia launched a massive overnight strike on Ukraine using 36 ballistic missiles and 172 drones, targeting energy infrastructure in Kyiv and surrounding regions, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The strikes came as Moscow prepares to join trilateral talks with the United States and Ukraine next week.
In Kyiv, Russian missiles damaged residential and commercial buildings, forced the closure of a bridge over the Dnipro River and caused fresh power and water outages. The Northern Bridge and a kindergarten were damaged, and electricity, water and heating supplies were disrupted in the capital. A substation connecting the Rivne and Khmelnytskyi nuclear power plants to Kyiv and central Ukraine was hit in the Kyiv region. Other substations were damaged in Vinnytsia, Zhytomyr, Rivne, Kharkiv and Dnipro.
Twelve regions, apart from Kyiv, came under attack, leaving nine people injured, including a child, Zelenskyy said. At least two people were killed and around a dozen others wounded across Ukraine in the overnight attacks, authorities said.
Russia's defence ministry said its forces carried out a massive overnight strike on what it described as targets in Ukraine's military-industrial sector and energy and transport infrastructure in Kyiv and the surrounding region. The ministry said strikes hit the Northern Bridge, which it said was being used to transport weapons, military equipment and vehicles for the Ukrainian armed forces, and the Meridian plant, which Russia says produces Flamingo cruise missiles. The ministry also said the strikes damaged several energy and industrial facilities in the Kyiv region, including a power plant, an electricity substation and a munitions manufacturing facility. It added that Russian forces struck an electricity substation in the Zhytomyr region and a cargo vessel in the Black Sea that it said was transporting military equipment and dual-use goods to Ukraine.
The meeting is scheduled to take place in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday and Wednesday and will be the first trilateral engagement of its kind since February. The Russian delegation will be led by Kremlin aide Vladimir Medinsky and include deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov, who will join the negotiations for the first time, along with senior General Staff officer Yuri Zhigarlovsky. Deputy foreign minister Mikhail Galuzin and military intelligence chief Igor Kostyukov are also expected to participate. Russian President Vladimir Putin met the delegation at a security council meeting on Friday to discuss preparations for the talks. He thanked the United Arab Emirates for hosting the negotiations.
Zelenskyy said: "Russia is preparing for trilateral talks by launching ballistic missiles at Ukraine's critical infrastructure." He also called on the United States to increase bilateral support and maintain Ukraine among its policy priorities.
The strikes hit energy infrastructure as temperatures headed towards zero, straining Kyiv's power supply and heating systems. The attack comes days before a new round of three-way talks in Abu Dhabi between Ukrainian and Russian officials, as part of a US-backed peace push that has so far yielded few results.
Sources
This article was drafted with AI assistance and checked against the sources above. Company claims are reported as claims. Cover image is AI-generated.
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