Zelenskyy Says Moscow Is Using Missiles as Leverage
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russia has deliberately intensified its strikes on Ukraine to pressure Kyiv and its partners before negotiations, according to The Guardian. Overnight, he said, Russia launched 172 drones and 36 ballistic missiles at Ukraine, including KN-23 missiles manufactured and supplied by North Korea.
The attack fits a pattern the record shows across this war: Russia has consistently escalated ahead of diplomatic contact, and Ukraine’s answer has been to press partners for air defense, energy repair equipment and a seat at the table for Europe. The trilateral talks mediated by the United States are scheduled for next week in Abu Dhabi, with Ukrainian and Russian representatives meeting on Tuesday and Wednesday. They would be the first direct diplomatic contact between the parties since February, when the process was suspended as Washington shifted its attention to the war with Iran.
Air Defense: Patriots Without Interceptors
Ukraine’s most immediate problem is not launchers but ammunition. Zelenskyy said Ukraine faces a significant shortage of interceptor missiles for its Patriot air defense systems and called on the United States to increase assistance. That shortage is what makes nights like the one he described so costly: 36 ballistic missiles in a single wave, with only part of the defensive shield able to answer.
The numbers from earlier in the week show the same gap from another angle. Zelenskyy said four out of 36 missiles were shot down overnight on Thursday, according to El-Balad.com. A Patriot battery without interceptors is a fixed asset that cannot protect anything, and replenishing those stocks depends on decisions in Washington rather than on anything Ukraine can do on its own soil.
Energy: Every Plant Damaged
Ukraine’s Ministry of Energy reported massive attacks on energy facilities, leaving five regions without electricity and significantly disrupting transmission in Kyiv and nearby areas, The Guardian reported. Zelenskyy warned that every power plant in Ukraine has been damaged in one way or another by Russian attacks, with repair crews working around the clock.
The energy campaign is the other half of the pressure strategy. Strikes on generation and transmission do not win ground, but they drain repair budgets, force emergency imports and make the coming winter a test of endurance rather than of arms. Ukraine’s countermeasure is a diplomatic one: Zelenskyy appealed to Latin American leaders at the Ibero-American Summit in Madrid for equipment that can work with Ukraine’s already damaged power grid, saying he needed it fast and pointing to companies in Spain and Latin America. Spain has allocated 570 million euros in 2026 for Ukraine’s reconstruction, according to the Spanish government.
Diplomacy: Abu Dhabi and the European Question
Zelenskyy said he hopes the Abu Dhabi talks could pave the way for a direct meeting with Vladimir Putin, who has refused several offers of face-to-face talks, according to DW. “We are counting on the fact that work in this format and our other diplomatic steps will open the way to a trilateral format at the level of leaders,” he told reporters in Berlin.
Germany expects European representatives to be in Abu Dhabi for the US-led talks, though they are unlikely to have a seat at the table. Chancellor Friedrich Merz said he had seen no sign that Russia is serious about negotiating a ceasefire. “It is important that Russia finally and seriously engages in negotiations about a ceasefire and a subsequent peace agreement,” Merz said. “I do not see that happening so far.”
Zelenskyy’s stated aims for any halt in fighting are specific: an end to attacks on energy infrastructure, safe passage for grain shipments through the Black Sea and further prisoner exchanges. He has also insisted that a ceasefire alone would not secure a lasting peace, and that Ukraine would need security guarantees backed by Europe and the United States. “There cannot be a sustainable peace if Europe is not at the negotiating table,” he said.
The human cost of the pressure campaign is already documented. Zelenskyy said at least 33 people were killed in multiple Russian strikes on a school building used as an aid distribution center in the frontline village of Komyshuvakha, with Ukrainian officials saying Russian forces struck residents waiting for aid and then hit the same location again as rescuers arrived. He later said 43 deaths had been confirmed there. On Tuesday, at least 73 people were injured in a strike on a hospital in Kharkiv, and 226 patients had to be transferred, regional prosecutors said.
What Comes Next
Germany expects European officials to be present in the city, though not at the table. Zelenskyy said Ukraine would join the US, European partners and NATO for talks on security guarantees and reconstruction in Brussels on Wednesday.
Sources
- Zelenskyy: Russia stepped up strikes ahead of talks — The Guardian
- Volodymyr Zelenskyy
- Pedro Sánchez discusses the situation regarding the war in Ukraine with Volodymyr Zelenskyy and reaffirms Spain"s support
- Germany's Merz doubts Russia wants Ukraine ceasefire, says European leaders must help shape peace
- Volodymyr Zelenskyy warns Blackouts after Russia damages every Ukraine power plant – El-Balad.com
- What is expected of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy
Photo: Xuthoria (CC BY-SA 4.0)
