Bombs Before the Bargaining Table: How Putin Is Using Kyiv's Lights as Leverage for Abu Dhabi
Three days before U.S.-brokered talks, Russia fired 36 ballistic missiles and 172 drones at Ukraine's grid. Only four missiles were shot down. Here is what the strikes are designed to do — and what they mean for America's hand at the table.
By Clara Hughes
Russia's preparation for peace talks this week looked a lot like war. Overnight into Saturday, Russia launched 172 drones and 36 ballistic missiles at Kyiv and other regions, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, according to The Guardian, AFP and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. The strikes hit substations in several regions, including ones that connect the Rivne and Khmelnytskyi nuclear power plants to Kyiv and central Ukraine, Zelenskyy said, as reported by the BBC. Kyiv's Northern Bridge over the Dnipro River was damaged and closed for repairs, The Guardian reported. Ukraine's energy ministry said consumers in the Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk, Kyiv, Zhytomyr and Kharkiv regions lost power and that electricity transmission in and around the capital was "significantly hampered," AFP reported. The ministry did not say how many homes were affected. "Russia is preparing for the trilateral talks by launching ballistic missiles at Ukraine's critical infrastructure," Zelenskyy said. U.S., Russian and Ukrainian negotiators are due to meet in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday and Wednesday, Nov. 10-11. Keep reading with Altas Premium. Below: the strategy behind Moscow's winter grid campaign, the interceptor math Zelenskyy is putting