Russian Missile and Drone Strikes Hit Kyiv's Power Network and Northern Bridge

Russian forces carried out a large-scale overnight assault on energy infrastructure around Kyiv using missiles and drones, Ukrainian officials said on Saturday, damaging facilities that supply electricity to the capital and several central regions as temperatures dropped toward freezing.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said explosions shook the city as multiple waves of ballistic missiles were fired, with several striking and damaging the Northern Bridge across the Dnipro River. The bridge campaign has intensified in recent weeks, disrupting traffic in a city of more than three million people.

Ukraine's energy ministry said strikes on facilities outside Kyiv, including systems that transmit power from two nuclear plants to the capital, caused serious damage. President Volodymyr Zelensky said substations in five other regions were also hit, leaving the capital with serious difficulties in its electricity, water and heating supplies.

According to Ukraine's air force, Russia launched 36 ballistic missiles, of which four were intercepted, while air defences downed 149 of 172 drones. Authorities reported at least two people killed and about a dozen wounded across the country, with homes, businesses and other buildings damaged.

Russia's defence ministry said it conducted a massive strike on targets it described as part of Ukraine's military-industrial sector, along with energy and transport infrastructure in and around Kyiv. Moscow has stepped up air attacks as its ground offensive has largely stalled, focusing on energy systems and, more recently, the capital's bridges.

The strikes came days before a new round of three-way talks in Abu Dhabi involving Ukrainian and Russian officials, part of a US-backed peace effort that has so far produced limited results. Zelensky said on X that Russia was "preparing for trilateral talks by launching ballistic missiles at Ukraine's critical infrastructure."