Russia strikes Kyiv’s power supply and its Northern Bridge days before the first three-way peace talks since February

Russia launched a large missile and drone attack on Ukraine’s power grid overnight into Saturday, striking energy infrastructure around Kyiv as temperatures hovered near zero, three days before peace negotiators from Ukraine, Russia and the United States are due to sit down together in Abu Dhabi.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia fired 172 drones and 36 ballistic missiles at more than a dozen regions, and that only four of the missiles were intercepted. Some, he said, were North Korean-made and hit an important energy facility. “The capital is facing serious difficulties with its electricity, water, and heat supplies,” Zelensky said.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said several ballistic missiles hit the Northern Bridge, one of the main road crossings over the Dnipro River. Ukraine’s energy ministry said strikes on facilities outside the city, including systems that carry power from two nuclear plants to Kyiv and central Ukraine, caused serious damage. Substations in five other regions were also hit, Zelensky said, and a kindergarten in Kyiv’s Solomianskyi district was badly damaged.

At least two people were killed and about a dozen wounded across Ukraine, including at least two children. Russia’s defence ministry said it had struck military-industrial, energy and transport targets, and said the bridge was used to move weapons.

Why hit the grid now?

Zelensky accused Moscow of trying to “plunge the entire country into a blackout” before winter, Ukraine’s fifth since the full-scale invasion. Russia has widened its campaign in recent weeks to include Kyiv’s bridges, snarling traffic across a city of about three million people, while its ground offensive has largely stalled.

The timing matters because an end to attacks on energy facilities is among the issues reported to be on the agenda in Abu Dhabi, and Zelensky said Russia was stepping up its strikes ahead of the talks.

Who is at the table?

Ukraine’s delegation is led by Rustem Umerov, a former defence minister and Kyiv’s chief negotiator, and includes Kyrylo Budanov, David Arakhamia, Dmytro Lytvyn and Serhii Kyslytsia. Russia’s is headed by Vladimir Medinsky, who led Moscow’s teams in the failed 2022 and 2025 talks. Kyiv has complained that Russia’s negotiators lack real decision-making power. The US side is again expected to be led by envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner.

European officials are not expected to attend, even though Europe carries much of the military and financial support for Ukraine. EU leaders will discuss on 13 November how the bloc should be represented at future talks.

Is a deal close?

Donald Trump has said a “big, beautiful agreement” could be near and might involve all of Europe, and Kushner has said any deal would respect every country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. Kyiv is more cautious. Budanov has said the negotiations “are not the last, they are not final.”

The gap is still the land. Moscow has repeatedly rejected a full and unconditional ceasefire, which Kyiv supports, and keeps demanding that Ukraine give up the parts of Donbas it still holds. Ukraine says it will raise Russia’s recent escalation, including the strike on Komyshuvakha that killed 53 people, with both delegations.

What does it mean for Australia?

Australia has committed military aid to Ukraine since 2022 and backs its position that its borders cannot be redrawn by force. A durable energy ceasefire would be the first concrete de-escalation since the temporary pause the US brokered last month to let aid into, and civilians out of, occupied Oleshky.