Nine injured as strikes damage power infrastructure; Zelenskyy accuses Russia of ramping up attacks on Ukraine ahead of talks

Strikes damage buildings and infrastructure

Saturday’s missile attacks hit locations across Ukraine, leaving at least nine people wounded. Zelenskyy said a kindergarten had sustained partial destruction, and photographs showed debris beside the building.

Officials shut Kyiv’s Northern Bridge after the strikes. The 892-yard crossing links the capital with large residential areas on the Dnipro River’s eastern bank. Ukraine’s Energy Ministry reported damage to lines carrying electricity from nuclear plants to Kyiv and central areas, along with harm to other power facilities. Outages were especially widespread in Kyiv and central Zhytomyr regions, and in Kharkiv, Donetsk and Dnipropetrovsk in the east.

Civilian toll and missing people

Emergency services said they had found nine additional bodies during the previous 24 hours. By early Saturday, the reported death toll had reached 55, while dozens remained missing.

A man described searching for a woman who had gone to collect humanitarian aid when a three-ton bomb was dropped. He said she had not returned, and that her body was not found at the site or in the morgue.

Claims about targets and talks

Russia’s Defense Ministry confirmed that its forces struck the Northern Bridge, saying it was used to move weapons, military equipment and specialist supplies for Ukraine’s armed forces. Russia also said it hit a Kyiv industrial site that produces Flamingo missiles, a power station, an electrical substation, and an ammunition, explosives and gunpowder plant in the wider Kyiv region. It separately confirmed a strike on a substation in Zhytomyr.

The attacks came as Ukraine and Russia prepared for trilateral discussions with the United States next week. Western governments supporting the peace effort are looking for a way past the impasse, while territorial and security issues remain unsettled.

Zelenskyy called on the United States and other partners to act on principle. He also accused Russia of stepping up its attacks on Ukraine and infrastructure before the talks.

Reports of attacks inside Russia

Russia’s Defense Ministry said its forces intercepted 411 Ukrainian drones overnight across 10 Russian regions, including Belgorod. It also reported drone interceptions over Crimea, which Russia annexed, and the Black and Azov Seas.

Andrey Klychkov, governor of Russia’s Oryol region, said a Ukrainian attack damaged commercial warehouse and production facilities in the regional capital. State media reported his remarks.