Four of the six ballistic missiles Russia fired at Kyiv’s Northern Bridge struck the span overnight, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Saturday, a concentrated attack that disrupted a major Dnipro River crossing and exposed a wider shortage of defenses against high-speed missiles. In an afternoon address, Zelenskyy said Russia launched 36 ballistic missiles toward Kyiv and the surrounding region during a broader assault and that Ukrainian forces intercepted four.

The barrage also included 172 attack drones, according to Ukraine’s Air Force, which said it destroyed or suppressed 149 of them. The preliminary account listed 137 jet-powered drones, 24 strike locations and debris at 10 additional sites. Those figures come from Ukrainian authorities and could not be independently verified in full, but the damage was documented across Kyiv and several regions.

The attack landed three days before U.S.-brokered talks among Russia, Ukraine and the United States are scheduled to begin in Abu Dhabi. It gave the battlefield a direct bearing on the negotiating environment: Kyiv is asking partners for more Patriot interceptors while Moscow says the infrastructure it struck supported Ukraine’s military operations.

A bridge becomes a military target

The 816-meter Northern Bridge links central Kyiv with densely populated districts on the Dnipro’s east bank. City officials closed it after the strikes and began repairs, while water pressure was stabilized after earlier disruptions, the Associated Press reported. Homes, commercial properties and a kindergarten were also damaged, and at least nine people, including a child, were wounded.

Russia’s Defense Ministry acknowledged targeting the bridge, saying it was used to move weapons, military vehicles and specialist equipment. It also said it struck a Kyiv industrial facility that produces cruise missiles, along with a power station, a substation and an ammunition plant in the surrounding region. Those descriptions are Russian government claims; independent reporting has confirmed extensive infrastructure damage but has not established the military function of every site.

Ballistic missiles strain a thin shield

The reported interception rate illustrates the different burdens created by drones and ballistic missiles. Ukraine said its layered defenses stopped most of the drones but only four of 36 ballistic weapons. The Air Force said 117 of the 137 jet-powered drones were among those neutralized, showing that the drone campaign still consumed substantial defensive effort even as missiles penetrated. Ballistic missiles follow faster, steeper trajectories than the slower drones that aircraft, mobile gun teams and electronic warfare units can also engage. Patriot batteries are among the systems capable of countering the ballistic threat, but interceptor supply, launcher coverage and warning time limit how much territory they can protect.

Zelenskyy had warned Friday that intelligence indicated an attack on energy facilities, bridges and civilian infrastructure was being prepared. His earlier statement said Ukrainian aircraft had downed 62 jet-powered drones during the previous day, while urging partners to accelerate deliveries of Patriot missiles. The sequence shows that warning did not guarantee interception: knowing the likely target set and having enough weapons positioned to defeat the incoming missiles are separate problems.

Power transmission, not generation, is the pressure point

The strikes damaged systems that carry electricity from the Rivne and Khmelnytskyi nuclear plants toward Kyiv and central Ukraine, according to the Energy Ministry. Zelenskyy said Ukraine was generating more electricity than it consumed, yet attacks on substations and transmission lines were producing serious shortages in Kyiv and other northern, eastern and central regions. That distinction matters because additional generation cannot reach consumers when key nodes in the grid are disabled. Repair crews can replace damaged components, reroute some flows and restore local service, but repeated attacks can exhaust inventories of specialized transformers and force operators to protect the wider system with controlled outages.

Reuters reported that at least two people were killed and about a dozen were wounded across Ukraine as missiles and drones damaged homes, businesses and nonresidential buildings. Ukrainian forces also carried out attacks inside Russia. Russian officials said one person was killed in Belgorod and reported damage in Saratov and Oryol, while Moscow claimed it intercepted 411 Ukrainian drones. Those Russian figures also have not been independently verified.

Military officials head to the negotiating table

The next diplomatic session will include officials directly involved in Russian military planning and intelligence. Russia’s delegation is expected to include General Staff officer Yuri Zhigarlovsky and military intelligence chief Igor Kostyukov, alongside Kremlin aide Vladimir Medinsky and senior diplomats, according to a separate Reuters report. The Tuesday-Wednesday meeting will be the first U.S.-mediated trilateral session since February.

The composition may allow negotiators to address operational questions, but it does not by itself indicate movement on territory, force posture or security guarantees. The overnight strikes instead sharpen the immediate military problem: Ukraine’s grid and transport network remain exposed to weapons its defenders cannot reliably intercept in large numbers. The next test will be whether promised air-defense packages arrive quickly enough to narrow that gap, and whether the Abu Dhabi talks produce concrete restraints rather than another negotiating round conducted under sustained attack.