Kyiv, Ukraine - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Saturday accused Russia of intensifying strikes across the country to put pressure on Kyiv at upcoming talks after an overnight barrage triggered power cuts as temperatures drop. He also asked for the US to step up ita assist efforts.

The latest strikes on Ukraine's energy infrastructure came days before the trilateral US-brokered meeting in Abu Dhabi scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday, November 10-11, aimed at reviving stalled diplomatic efforts towards peace.

Ukraine's energy ministry said "a massive attack on a number of energy facilities" had plunged five regions into darkness and significantly hampered electricity transmission in Kyiv and the surrounding region.

Zelensky said the timing of the aerial barrage showed that Russia had a "very particular view of diplomacy" as it struck ahead of "another joint effort with our partners to reinvigorate negotiations."

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"By intensifying its attacks on Ukraine and our infrastructure at this very moment, Russia is trying to additionally lay the groundwork for putting pressure on Ukraine's position and that of its partners," Zelensky said.

Moscow has battered Ukraine's energy grid and infrastructure throughout its four-and-a-half-year invasion, and Kyiv was now bracing for another harsh winter as temperatures begin to hover around freezing.

Zelensky also said Russia had throughout the night launched 172 drones and 36 ballistic missiles, among which, according to him, were KN-23 missiles manufactured and supplied by North Korea.

They hit "one of the key energy facilities that was damaged," Zelensky said.

Russia has turned to North Korea for support throughout the invasion, and Zelensky is urging the United States to increase its flagging aid to Ukraine.

"Unfortunately, there is still a significant shortage of interceptors for Patriot systems, and the United States is in the best position to help address it," Zelensky said.

On Tuesday and Wednesday, Ukrainian officials are expected to sit down with Russian negotiators and US envoys for the first such direct talks in months.

The diplomatic track has been stalled since February, when Washington shifted attention to its war with Iran.

President Donald Trump's repeated attempts to broker an end to the war have foundered over Moscow's sweeping territorial demands, particularly its insistence on controlling all of Ukraine's eastern Donbas region, including areas still held by Kyiv.