Russia and Ukraine trade airstrikes as reconstruction talks resume in Brussels

Russia launched 36 ballistic missiles and 172 drones overnight at Kyiv and surrounding regions, damaging energy facilities, homes and the Northern Bridge and disrupting electricity, heating and water. Ukrainian officials reported civilian casualties, including a child, though accounts differed on whether the toll included a death; Moscow said it targeted sites used for military purposes, while President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Russia of seeking to force Ukraine into a blackout and urged greater U.S. support. The strikes came ahead of planned U.S.-brokered Russia-Ukraine talks in Abu Dhabi next week, where territorial and security issues remain unresolved; Western and Ukrainian officials also met in Brussels to discuss Ukraine’s reconstruction, funding and security guarantees. Separately, rescue workers continued searching the rubble of a former school used as an aid center in southern Ukraine, where a Russian strike earlier in the week killed dozens and left others missing.