With temperatures at freezing point, Kyiv faced a severe humanitarian crisis Saturday after one of the war’s most intense overnight bombardments cut power, heat, and water across the Ukrainian capital.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed the scale of the assault, disclosing that Russia deployed 172 drones and 36 ballistic missiles in a single overnight attack on Kyiv and its surrounding regions.

Zelenskyy said Russia was trying to “push Kyiv … and the entire country into a blackout,” using the attack to renew his call for greater military support from Washington.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko confirmed strikes on the Northern Bridge and described the city as being in an “extremely difficult” situation with respect to power, heating, and water supplies as overnight temperatures hit 0 degrees Celsius.

One civilian was killed and eight others wounded, Ukrainian authorities confirmed, while the Kyiv region’s governor, Tymur Tkachenko, said energy infrastructure across three separate districts had sustained direct hits.

Russia’s Defense Ministry claimed responsibility, stating the Northern Bridge was being used by Ukrainian forces to move weapons and military equipment, and that the targeted Meridian Plant was producing Flamingo cruise missiles.

Moscow also said the strikes caused damage to an electricity substation in the neighboring Zhytomyr region and struck a cargo vessel operating in the Black Sea.

The bombardment arrives at a diplomatically sensitive moment, coming just days before a fourth round of trilateral negotiations between Kyiv, Moscow, and Washington scheduled to take place in Abu Dhabi, in the United Arab Emirates.

Three prior rounds of US-brokered discussions have yielded no concrete results, with disputes over territorial control and long-term security guarantees continuing to block progress toward any agreement.

US President Donald Trump said Friday that he believed the war was close to resolution, expressing optimism about what he called a “big, beautiful agreement” with Moscow that would ultimately involve “all of Europe.”

The attack’s timing contrasts sharply with a brief moment of restraint last week, when a six-day local ceasefire around the Russian-occupied southern city of Oleshky in the Kherson region allowed roughly 800 civilians to be evacuated.

That limited truce was arranged through the involvement of US First Lady Melania Trump, underscoring how fragmented and localized any progress toward de-escalation has remained.

Russia has intensified its aerial campaign against Ukrainian cities and energy networks over recent months, with bridges emerging as an increasingly prominent category of target alongside power generation facilities.