Russia hits Kyiv with missiles and drones, damaging bridge, days before Abu Dhabi talks

Russia struck Kyiv and other parts of Ukraine with missiles and drones overnight on 6–7 November, damaging homes, a kindergarten and one of the capital’s main bridges, just days before US-led talks with Moscow and Kyiv are due to begin.

According to Ukraine’s Air Force, cited by Ukrainska Pravda and the Kyiv Independent, Russia used Iskander-M, Zircon, KN-23 and S-400 missiles in unspecified numbers, together with 172 drones, 137 of them jet-powered. The Air Force said air defences destroyed or jammed four missiles and 149 drones. Hits were recorded at 24 locations, and debris fell at 10 more. The Kyiv region was the main target.

Waves of missiles over the capital

The Kyiv Independent reported that Russian ballistic missiles reached the city in several waves, starting shortly before 11 p.m. local time, when the Air Force counted at least six launches within a few minutes. Further blasts followed after 1 a.m., at 3:04 a.m. and again around 3:30 a.m., according to its journalists on the ground.

Mayor Vitali Klitschko said the Northern Bridge was damaged and closed to traffic in both directions. He said the roadbed, a trolleybus contact line and a power line were hit, and that road and utility crews had begun repairs. He also reported damage to a five-storey apartment building in Solomianskyi district and broken windows at another one. The city’s military administration said a fire broke out at a non-residential building in the same district, and a kindergarten was damaged.

Ukrainska Pravda said at least five people were injured, including a 14-year-old; the Kyiv Independent put the number at six, with two hospitalised. Al Jazeera, citing the city’s military administration at an earlier stage, reported two injured. Outside the city, regional governor Tymur Tkachenko said a drone caused a fire at a home in the Brovary district, and police said energy facilities were damaged in the Bucha and Obukhiv districts.

Warnings and the diplomatic backdrop

Hours before the strike, President Volodymyr Zelensky told Ukrainians that intelligence pointed to another large attack on infrastructure, likely including bridges and energy sites. The Kyiv Independent noted that Russia has stepped up its yearly campaign against Ukraine’s power grid, and that the largest energy strike of the year, on 3 November, caused widespread blackouts and water cutoffs in the capital. City and national officials have traded blame over the state of Kyiv’s energy system ahead of winter.

Al Jazeera said the attack came three days before Ukrainian and Russian delegations were due to meet in Abu Dhabi in talks led by the United States, aimed at ending a war now in its fifth year. The previous round took place in February.

On Thursday, US President Donald Trump said a deal between Russia and Ukraine could be close after he met Kirill Dmitriev, an envoy of Vladimir Putin, at the White House. Trump said he did not meet the Ukrainian delegation that day.

What is still unclear

Zelensky said in an interview aired Thursday that Kyiv wants concrete guarantees from Western partners on how post-war security support would work. That followed two days of meetings in Brussels with officials from the United States, Britain, France, Germany and the European Union, as well as the World Bank and BlackRock, according to chief Ukrainian negotiator Rustem Umerov.

The Kyiv Independent said the full consequences of the attack were not yet clear and that strikes were still under way when it published. Al Jazeera said officials were warning residents of further possible attacks.