FT report says Moscow threatens Ukraine's bridges, ports and power infrastructure

Russia has threatened to intensify strikes on Ukraine's bridges, ports, railways and power stations unless Kyiv accepts Moscow's conditions to end the war, according to people familiar with Russia's position cited by the Financial Times and relayed by the Ukrainian outlet Hromadske. One person paraphrased President Vladimir Putin's position as a vow to destroy all of Ukraine's infrastructure by next year unless Kyiv agreed to Moscow's terms.

According to the FT's sources, Russian officials see winter strikes on the energy grid as a way to increase pressure on Kyiv during negotiations, chiefly over Moscow's demand that Ukraine cede the rest of the Donetsk region as a precondition for a ceasefire, in exchange for security guarantees from NATO states. The sources said they did not expect planned talks between Ukraine, the United States and Russia in Abu Dhabi to produce a quick ceasefire, and suggested the Kremlin might use the diplomatic contacts to stall while continuing its attacks on energy and transport networks. ECTV has not independently verified this account of Russia's negotiating strategy.

The report appeared as Russian missiles did strike Kyiv infrastructure overnight into 7 November, with the Northern Bridge, a kindergarten and residential buildings damaged and six people injured citywide, Ukrainian officials said. Russia's defence ministry said it had targeted the bridge because it was used for Ukrainian military transport, and said its forces also hit a factory producing Ukraine's Flamingo cruise missile, the Trypillia power plant south of Kyiv and an electricity substation in Zhytomyr region.

Ukraine's air force said it intercepted four of the ballistic missiles and 149 of the 172 drones Russia launched overnight. The city of Chernihiv, north of Kyiv, suffered a complete power outage because of the attack, according to the news agency UNIAN, citing the city administration.