Russian forces hammered energy infrastructure around Ukraine's capital with missiles and drones overnight, straining Kyiv's power supply and heating systems as temperatures headed towards zero, officials said on Saturday.
Three days before Russia and Ukraine are due to take part in U.S.-brokered talks, explosions rocked Kyiv as Moscow unleashed waves of ballistic missiles, several of which hit and damaged the Northern Bridge across the Dnipro River, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said.
Strikes on energy facilities outside Kyiv — including systems sending power from two nuclear plants to the city and Ukraine's central regions — caused serious damage, the energy ministry said.
"The capital is facing serious difficulties with its electricity, water, and heat supplies," President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on X, adding that substations in five other regions were also hit.
He said only four of the 36 ballistic-type missiles launched by Russia had been intercepted, and that some were North Korean-made and hit an important energy facility.