Russian Missile and Drone Barrage Strains Kyiv’s Power and Heating Supplies as Temperatures Near Freezing

Kyiv: Russian forces launched a massive overnight missile and drone attack on energy infrastructure around Ukraine’s capital, straining Kyiv’s electricity and heating systems as temperatures dropped towards zero, Ukrainian officials said on Saturday.

Explosions rocked the city as Russia fired multiple waves of ballistic missiles, several of which struck and damaged the Northern Bridge across the Dnipro River, according to Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko.

Ukraine’s Energy Ministry said strikes on energy facilities outside Kyiv, including systems transmitting power from two nuclear plants to the capital and the country’s central regions, caused serious damage.

“The capital is facing serious difficulties with its electricity, water, and heat supplies,” President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in a post on X, adding that substations in five other regions had also been hit.

According to Ukraine’s Air Force, Russia launched 36 ballistic missiles, only four of which were intercepted, while air defences brought down 149 of 172 drones.

At least two people were killed and around a dozen others injured across Ukraine in the overnight attacks, which also damaged residential homes, businesses and non-residential buildings, authorities said.

Russia’s Defence Ministry said it had carried out a massive strike on what it described as targets in Ukraine’s military-industrial sector, as well as energy and transport infrastructure in and around Kyiv.

Russia has intensified its air campaign against Ukraine as its ground offensive has largely stalled, repeatedly targeting energy infrastructure in major cities with difficult-to-intercept missiles and drones more than four and a half years into its full-scale invasion. In recent weeks, Moscow has expanded its strikes to include Kyiv’s bridges, causing severe traffic disruption in a city of more than three million people.

The latest attack comes days before a new round of trilateral talks in Abu Dhabi between Ukrainian and Russian officials, part of a US-backed peace initiative that has so far produced limited results.

“Russia is preparing for trilateral talks by launching ballistic missiles at Ukraine’s critical infrastructure,” Zelenskiy said on X.