Extract from ABC News
Eyewitness footage shows an explosion on a bridge connecting Kyiv's city centre to the suburbs over the Dnipro River.
In short:
Ukraine's intelligence services have seen documents that show Russia's "new doctrine" of military attacks on civilian targets ahead of the northern winter.
In response, Volodymyr Zelenskyy says Ukraine will double down on attacking Russian oil refineries, but will not target civilians.
What's next?
A bridge in Kyiv has been hit by Russian strikes, coinciding with a visit from German Chancellor Friedrich Merz.
Ukraine will double down on attacking Russian oil refineries in response to a new policy of air strikes by Moscow designed to force people to abandon Kyiv and other cities, but will not target civilians, according to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
It came as Russia struck a major bridge in Kyiv on the same day German Chancellor Friedrich Merz paid a surprise visit to the Ukrainian capital.
Footage shows a huge fireball erupting from the North Bridge.
Russia has been targeting the bridge, which crosses the Dnipro River, for the past four days.
Russia has been targeting the North Bridge with multiple drone strikes over the past four days. (Reuters)
Mr Zelenskyy said Ukraine's intelligence services had obtained documents showing Russian leader Vladimir Putin had issued a "new doctrine" of military attacks on a much broader range of civilian targets ahead of this winter.
"We saw documents and we know that they allow them to attack infrastructure, logistics, and especially to attack in the cities, in the villages, everywhere, roads, schools, hospitals," Mr Zelenskyy told Reuters.
"To pressure people to leave the capital, leave different cities: this is the goal of the operation."
Driving the shift in policy, Mr Zelenskyy said, was Mr Putin's desire to appear strong at a time when his military was losing ground in a key frontline region and sustaining higher levels of casualties.
Explosions are heard as Ukraine hits an oil refinery in Moscow in September.
In a statement urging foreign nationals to leave Kyiv, the Russian Foreign Ministry said Moscow would continue to systematically hit targets in what it said were retaliatory strikes for Ukrainian attacks on Russia in recent months.
Both sides deny deliberately targeting civilians.
Russia will intensify strikes on Kyiv and other parts of Ukraine, the Russian Defence Ministry said later on Sunday, local time, responding to Mr Zelenskyy's comments on Russian refineries.
The ministry said Russian forces would step up attacks on military facilities, defence industry sites and related infrastructure
Counteroffensive in Donbas
Mr Zelenskyy said a successful Ukrainian counteroffensive, codenamed "Vivaldi", had recaptured about 140 square kilometres of Ukraine's eastern Donbas region and was still ongoing.
Russia has said it must control Donbas in its entirety as a condition for any peace deal.
In recent weeks, US President Donald Trump's administration has sought to revive talks to end the four-year-old conflict — Europe's bloodiest since World War II.
Donald Trump has expressed his concerns about how the Ukraine war is impacting oil prices. (AP: Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
The US leader last month urged Ukraine to refrain from hitting Russian oil installations, saying that was sending global diesel prices surging.
But Mr Zelenskyy, speaking as air raid sirens blared outside the gilded halls of the presidential offices, said he had received no indications from Russia that Mr Putin was interested in peace talks, or discussing a ceasefire on energy infrastructure.
Over the past week, the Ukrainian capital has come under persistent attack by Russian drones and missiles targeting energy and telecoms assets, road and rail infrastructure. For the first time, Russia has targeted the bridges across the Dnipro River connecting east and west Kyiv.
Mr Zelenskyy said Ukraine would react to the change in tactics by Moscow, but without targeting civilian infrastructure indiscriminately.
"We have to respond in any way [we can]. With their attacks on our energy, we have to respond on their energy,"Mr Zelenskyy said.
Vladimir Putin has been invited to attend December's G20 summit in Florida. (Reuters: Vladimir Pirogov)
"First of all, oil refiners et cetera: what gives money to them for this war. But we will not respond, of course, just like them, on any civilian objects."
Germany's Merz arrives in Kyiv to the sound of sirens and explosions
The sound of air raid sirens and explosions rang out in Ukraine's capital Kyiv on Sunday, as German Chancellor Friedrich Merz arrived for a visit to show support for Mr Zelenskyy.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Friedrich Merz visited Ukraine's National Academy of Sciences, which was damaged in a recent attack. (Reuters: Gleb Garanich)
One of the Russian strikes hit the Northern Bridge across the Dnipro River, damaging its roadway, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on Telegram.
He said the strike had also damaged a hot water supply system in the area.
Russia has been attacking Kyiv's bridges since last week in an effort to disrupt links between the capital's two banks and logistics routes between central and eastern Ukraine.
"I travelled to Kyiv today because Ukraine needs all our support in the coming weeks," Mr Merz said, adding that Russian forces were bombing towns, residential buildings and heating plants.
"If Russia is not stopped, sooner or later its war machine will turn against us.
"I will tell President Zelenskyy today: 'You can continue to count on our help,'" he said.
Mr Merz, who announced new military aid for Ukraine and an energy support package, said his visit "demonstrates that we will not be intimidated. Nor will we be intimidated by a drone attack occurring at the very time of our visit."
Reuters
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