Russia hits Kyiv and surrounding region in massive overnight strike

Russian forces ​launched missile and drone attacks on Ukraine's capital Kyiv and the ​surrounding region overnight, damaging energy infrastructure and a major bridge across the Dnipro River, officials said on Saturday.

Explosions rocked the city as Russia ​fired ‌multiple waves of ballistic missiles, several of ⁠them hitting the Northern Bridge, according to Mayor Vitali Klitschko.

He described an "extremely difficult" situation ‌for power, heating and water supplies in Kyiv, where temperatures ⁠hovered near freezing on Saturday morning. Governor Tymur Tkachenko said energy facilities in at least three districts of the ​Kyiv region had been hit.

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One person was killed ‌and eight people including a child were wounded in the overnight attack, which also damaged homes and non-residential buildings, authorities said.

Moscow's defence ‌ministry said it 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.

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FRANCE 24’s Ukraine correspondent Emmanuelle Chaze said the strikes were further worsening living conditions, with people having “about two to three hours of electricity per day, no heating, and daily water outage”.

“Volodymyr Zelensky continues to criticise Vitali Klitschko’s crisis management, saying that of the entire country, Kyiv is the region least prepared to deal with the situation,” Chaze added. “Elsewhere, the city of Chernihiv was plunged into complete darkness and cut off from the power grid following further strikes.”

Russia has stepped up air attacks on ​Ukraine as its ground offensive has largely stalled, pounding energy ​infrastructure in major cities with difficult-to-intercept missiles and ​drones more than four and a half years into its full-scale invasion.

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It has expanded its campaign in ​recent weeks to target Kyiv's bridges, snarling traffic in the city of more than 3 million.

Saturday's strikes also damaged energy infrastructure in the central Zhytomyr region, the regional governor and Russia's defence ministry said.

They ⁠come days before a new round of three-way talks in Abu Dhabi ⁠between Ukrainian ​and Russian officials, as part of a US-backed peace push that has so far yielded few results.

Meanwhile, in southern Ukraine, a recovery operation continued in the village of Komyshuvakha, devastated on Monday when multiple Russian guided bombs slammed into a former school and nearby shelter as residents waited for humanitarian aid.

(FRANCE 24 with Reuters and AP)