Russian Strike On Ukraine Kills Woman In Kyiv, Moscow Says It Hit Military Factories
Russia says it hit plants that make rockets and drones around Kyiv. The attack came hours before United States envoys were due in Moscow for talks with Putin.
KYIV, Nov 12 – Russia carried out a massive strike on Ukraine overnight, its military said on Thursday, saying it hit military factories in and around Kyiv. The Russian strike on Ukraine also hit an apartment building in the capital, killing a woman.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said a Russian drone struck a nine-story building in the city’s Solomyanskyi district and set it on fire. One woman was killed, and five people were hurt, he said.
A Reuters witness heard blasts in the capital in the early hours of Thursday.
The attack came just hours after two days of peace talks in Abu Dhabi ended on Wednesday. At those talks, Russia and Ukraine agreed in principle to a large swap of prisoners of war. United States envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff were due in Moscow on Thursday to meet President Vladimir Putin.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said it used precision-guided weapons fired from the ground, along with attack drones, in the overnight strikes. It said the targets included Ukraine’s defense industry, power facilities and an arms depot in and around Kyiv.
The ministry later released a list of targets, according to the Russian state news agency TASS.
It said one target was the Generator plant in Kyiv, which it said produces components for the rocket and space industry and assembles medium-range drones. The ministry also said it targeted facilities linked to drone production and military supplies in the wider Kyiv region.
In the Kyiv region, the ministry said it struck a drone manufacturing site in Brovary. It also named a plant in the village of Kuzmintsy that it said produces components for solid rocket fuel, and a site in Yahotyn that it said makes drone boosters.
Russian forces struck targets across Ukraine, including energy infrastructure, factories and port facilities, as the two sides continued to exchange heavy blows despite ongoing talks.
In the western city of Zhytomyr, Russia’s Defense Ministry said it hit two power substations supplying factories that produce military equipment. It also said it struck a cargo ship at sea carrying supplies for the Ukrainian army to the port of Odesa.
Ukraine did not confirm Russia’s list of targets, and Reuters could not independently verify the claims. However, Ukrainian officials reported damage across the country.
In the northwestern Rivne region, Russian attacks hit power and civilian sites, according to a local official. The town of Kostopil and other areas lost electricity, the head of the regional government said.
In the southern Mykolaiv region, power facilities, factories and port infrastructure were damaged, Governor Vitaliy Kim said, according to TASS. Warehouses were also struck in two districts of the southeastern Dnipropetrovsk region, the regional governor said.
Ukraine also struck back. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said air defenses shot down five Ukrainian drones flying toward the Russian capital overnight. Russia’s Defense Ministry said 71 Ukrainian drones were downed across the country.
The two sides have intensified their attacks in recent months, even as the front line has barely moved. Russia has repeatedly targeted Ukrainian cities and power plants, while Ukraine has escalated strikes on oil refineries and other sites deep inside Russia.
The strikes continued through this week’s talks. On Wednesday, a Russian attack on a market in the Odesa region killed three people, local officials said.
At the talks in Abu Dhabi, Kushner said there was “no trust right now between the sides.” He said land would be the hardest issue to resolve.
Russia still demands that Ukraine cede the entire eastern Donbas region. Kyiv has refused.
Kushner and Witkoff plan to travel to Dublin after Moscow to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
Russian forces currently control about one-fifth of Ukraine.
