Russia fires 36 ballistic missiles and 172 drones at Ukraine, hitting Kyiv's power grid

Overnight missile and drone attack on Kyiv

Russia launched 36 ballistic missiles and 172 drones against Ukraine during the night of 6 to 7 November, according to Volodymyr Zelensky, who said all the missiles were aimed at Kyiv and its surrounding region. Ukraine's central air force command reported that 149 drones and four missiles were intercepted, and that 137 of the launched drones were jet-propelled Shahed models. The strikes came a few hours after Zelensky had warned that Russia was preparing another large-scale attack on infrastructure. In the capital, the first missiles arrived shortly before 23:00 on Friday, 6 November, with further waves after midnight and around 03:30 on Saturday, 7 November.

Ballistic missiles launched36

Drones launched172

Drones intercepted149

Missiles intercepted4

Ballistic missiles launched

36

Drones launched

172

Drones intercepted

149

Missiles intercepted

4

Data from the article text

Energy grid, bridge and casualties

Zelensky said a substation in the Kyiv region that links the Rivne and Khmelnytskyi nuclear power plants to the capital and central regions was hit, and that substations in Vinnytsia, Zhytomyr, Rivne, Kharkiv and Dnipropetrovsk were also damaged. The strikes hit the power network, not the reactors themselves. Ukraine's energy ministry said transmission and distribution networks had suffered significant damage, leaving customers without power in Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk, Kyiv, Zhytomyr and Kharkiv. DTEK confirmed outages in part of the Brovary district. The Northern Bridge, one of the capital's main road links across the Dnipro, was damaged and closed to traffic in both directions while engineers assess its condition. Mayor Vitali Klitschko described the capital's power supply situation as extremely difficult, and Zelensky said a kindergarten had been partly destroyed.

Casualty figures differ by scope. Zelensky's count for the past 24 hours across Ukraine is at least two dead and 37 injured, while other reporting put the injured at about a dozen, and a separate tally from Zelensky gave nine injured, including a child, across the capital and 12 other regions. In Kyiv, Klitschko first reported at least five injured, including a 14-year-old girl, and city authorities later counted at least six, with two people hospitalized. In the Kyiv region, police reported one person dead and two injured. In the Brovary district, a man was pulled from the rubble of a burning house with burns and shrapnel wounds.

Ukraine's strikes inside Russia

Ukraine hit several sites in Russia's Oryol, Saratov and Rostov regions during the same night, including an oil refinery in Saratov where a fire broke out after a drone attack, according to the Exilenova Plus monitoring channel. Governor Roman Busargin said several people were injured. A large fire also broke out near the Almaz military plant in Rostov, and the flames were later extinguished. Explosions were reported in the city of Belgorod, where the Russian agency Ria Novosti said at least one person had been hurt.

Diplomacy and Western support

Zelensky told CNN that the ceasefire at Oleshky had shown a truce could be reached without long preparations, withdrawal of weapons or buffer zones, and that the outcome depends on Vladimir Putin's political will. Trilateral talks involving the United States are set for Abu Dhabi on 10 and 11 November. Donald Trump said the United States was making a lot of progress with Russia and Ukraine, citing phone calls on 7 November and meetings planned for Monday and Tuesday, and he said both sides wanted a deal for the first time that would involve Europe. Germany, for now, will not provide new Patriot systems to Ukraine. Defence minister Boris Pistorius said Berlin has to preserve its own stocks and urged partner countries to do more, and the issue is due to be taken up at the next Ukraine Contact Group meeting in mid-November.

Europe's response and US divisions

Finland is strengthening its preparedness model against possible Russian threats, relying on shelters, conscription, protection of infrastructure and involvement of the population, which Helsinki calls comprehensive security. Foreign minister Antonio Tajani asked that hybrid threats be placed at the centre of the G7 meeting in Paris on Monday, following recent threats and cyberattacks, and Europol has called an investigative meeting with police forces of the countries involved for next week. Defence minister Guido Crosetto urged a shift from reacting to threats toward preventing them. Separately, the Wall Street Journal reports that the Trump administration is divided over Iran, with JD Vance pushing to end the conflict while Pete Hegseth and Brad Cooper of US Central Command favour resuming fighting. In a 60 Minutes interview, Trump said he liked his team but might make some changes, and he said he had confidence in Hegseth.