Zelensky accuses Russia of intensifying attacks on Ukraine before negotiations with the United States

Missile attacks hit Ukraine on Saturday, injuring at least nine people, as kyiv and Moscow prepared for new negotiations next week with the United States.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on social media that Russia used 36 missiles to target critical infrastructure. Only four missiles were shot down, Zelensky said, highlighting a shortage of interceptors. He also said 172 drones were used in attacks that hit kyiv and 12 other regions.

The president accused Russia of escalating attacks on Ukraine and the country’s infrastructure before trilateral talks.

Negotiators from Russia, Ukraine and the United States are due to meet on Tuesday in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, for negotiations aimed at ending the war. The new round of negotiations would be the fourth negotiated by the Trump administrationthe most recent taking place in Geneva in February.

Western governments supporting the peace initiative are seeking a new formula to break the impasse while recognizing that territorial and security issues remain unresolved.

“Russia has a very particular view of diplomacy – as a subtype of aggression,” Zelensky wrote.

“We hope that the United States, like our other partners, will act according to principles,” he added.

Russian attacks target Ukrainian infrastructure

Russian missiles that struck the Ukrainian capital kyiv overnight damaged homes and commercial properties, triggering new electricity and water cutsstate and municipal authorities said.

Zelenskyy said a kindergarten was “partially destroyed.” Photos show rubble near the damaged building.

Kateryna Korniichuk, 64, was at home with her granddaughter when an attack took place.

“The first shock wave threw us against this wall, then against the other wall, because we were in the hallway. It’s very hard. No sleep, no peace – nothing. The children don’t sleep, and neither do we,” she told the Associated Press. “I’m old, I can handle it, but what did the kids do wrong?”

The strikes also prompted authorities to close kyiv’s 892-meter-long North Bridge, a major road connecting the city to large residential areas on the eastern bank of the Dnipro River. The Russian Defense Ministry confirmed on Saturday that it had targeted the bridge, saying it facilitated the transport of weapons, military hardware and specialized equipment for Ukraine’s armed forces.

Kiev Mayor Vitali Klitschko said work was already underway to repair the city’s northern bridge and that water pressure in kyiv had been stabilized. Earlier on Saturday, he described the city’s energy situation as “extremely difficult, affecting the city’s heating and water supply systems.”

Ukraine’s Energy Ministry said Saturday’s missile attacks damaged networks that carry electricity from nuclear power plants to kyiv and the central regions, as well as several other electrical installations. Outages are more widespread in the kyiv and central Zhytomyr regions, as well as in the eastern regions of Kharkiv, Donetsk and Dnipropetrovsk.

These outages are distinct from scheduled periodic outages imposed to protect the grid, which remain in effect across much of Ukraine.

Russia also said it had targeted an industrial facility in the capital producing Flamingo missiles, as well as a power plant, an electrical substation and a factory producing munitions, explosives and gunpowder in the kyiv region. He also confirmed the strike on an electricity substation in the Zhytomyr region.

Zelensky said that at one energy facility, preliminary results show Russia used KN-23 missiles “manufactured and supplied by North Korea.” He called the use of alleged North Korean missile “further evidence that global sanctions regimes need to be significantly strengthened.” Technical evaluations at other sites are underway.

Recovery efforts continue after massive attack

Meanwhile, in southern Ukraine, a recovery operation continued into its sixth day in the village of Komyshuvakha, devastated by several Russian guided bombs on Monday. hit an old school and a shelter nearby as residents waited for humanitarian aid.

Emergency services said they had found nine more bodies in the previous 24 hours, bringing the death toll to 55 as of Saturday morning. Dozens of people are still missing.

Mykola Krasnov, 72, a resident of the village, said he was still looking for his wife but had not received any news from rescuers.

“She went to get humanitarian aid and a 3-ton bomb was dropped there. Where is she?” he said. “She didn’t come home and they didn’t find her body there. She’s not in the morgue and she’s not here alive.”

The village of Komyshuvakha is located near the front line in the Zaporizhzhia region.

Russia reports drone strikes

A Ukrainian attack killed one person in Russia’s Belgorod region when a drone struck a private house in the town of Grayvoron, local officials said Saturday.

The Russian Defense Ministry said its forces shot down 411 Ukrainian drones overnight in 10 Russian regions, including Belgorod. Drones were also destroyed over Ukraine’s annexed Crimean Peninsula and the Black Sea and Sea of ​​Azov, the statement said.

The head of Russia’s southwest Saratov region, Governor Roman Busargin, wrote on social media that a drone attack had damaged “civil infrastructure” and several residential buildings in the area. Russian media later reported that the Saratov oil refinery had been hit and shared images of plumes of smoke above the city.

The head of Russia’s Orel region, Governor Andrei Klychkov, also said on Saturday that a Ukrainian attack had damaged commercial warehouses and production sites in the regional capital, as cited by state media.

Russian media reported that a Ukrainian attack sparked a fire at the Proton-Electrotex factory in Oryol, which produces components for military equipment.