Zelensky Says Russia Wants to Divide Ukraine Along Dnipro, Pledges State Resources to Frontline Regions

Russia is using its strikes on Ukraine’s bridges and energy infrastructure to divide the country along the Dnipro River, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Monday, Nov. 9, pledging state support to the frontline regions that have suffered most.Zelensky made the remarks after a meeting with regional authorities from five frontline regions – Kharkiv, Kherson, Dnipropetrovsk, Sumy and Donetsk – along with Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko, with whom he publicly clashed over the capital’s unpreparedness just days earlier.JOIN US ON TELEGRAMFollow our coverage of the war on the @Kyivpost_official.“We discussed in detail the challenges posed by Russia’s operation,” Zelensky said, noting that the Cabinet of Ministers is ready to provide additional state resources wherever they are needed. “This is how we have made it through all the years of this war – filling gaps, finding and supplying what is needed,” he added.Only several days prior, Zelensky warned that Russia was preparing new strikes on energy and civilian infrastructure, including bridges across the Dnipro.Since early October, Russian drones and missiles have repeatedly hit Kyiv’s bridges, forcing several of them to close fully or partially.Prime Minister Serhii Koretskyi said on Nov. 4 that Russia was launching 300 to 400 drones a day at Ukraine’s critical infrastructure, with more than 2,000 strikes recorded since August.Ukrainian delegation arrives in UAEUkraine’s negotiating team has already arrived in the United Arab Emirates, with the first trilateral meeting between Russia and the US scheduled for Tuesday, Nov. 10. Other Topics of Interest Russian Military Tests Cruise Missile Launches from Aerial Platforms Russia’s military have been trialing the launch of cruise missiles and jet-powered drones from three separate aerial platforms. According to Zelensky, European partners will also be in Abu Dhabi, holding separate meetings with the Ukrainian delegation. Kyiv’s team, Zelensky said, will propose de-escalation steps and seek an understanding of how a summit of leaders could be arranged.“Peace is needed. Security guarantees are needed. Real resources for Ukraine’s postwar recovery are needed,” he said.Earlier on Monday, Rustem Umerov, head of Ukraine’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SZRU) said that representatives of the so-called E4 group – comprising the UK, France, Germany, and Italy – would be present. Delegates from NATO and the European Commission are expected as well.“As directed by President Volodymyr Zelensky, we are doing everything to ensure that Europe remains a participant in the diplomatic process,” Umerov wrote.Senior US envoy Steve Witkoff initially announced the talks on Nov. 2, saying the agenda would cover postwar security arrangements, de-escalation, humanitarian measures and ending the war.Witkoff and Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, are expected to lead the US delegation.The meeting will mark the first in-person trilateral round since February, when two meetings were held in Abu Dhabi and a third in Geneva before the process stalled.Speaking in Warsaw on Nov. 6, Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said Ukraine’s priorities for the talks remain security guarantees, an energy truce, de-escalation in the Black Sea and the return of Ukrainian children abducted by Russia.“Russia can do this – end its war. It is important that America convince Russia of precisely that,” Zelensky said.Frontline fails as negotiating leverageDuring his evening address, Zelensky said Ukrainian Defense Forces are inflicting record personnel losses on Russia, strengthening Kyiv’s position at the negotiating table.At the Staff meeting, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Mykhailo Drapatyi briefed participants on the situation at the front.“Russia is suffering record manpower losses on the front, both daily and weekly. Ukraine’s long-range sanctions are working too,” Zelensky said, adding that Russia’s manpower losses have reached record levels on both a daily and a weekly basis.Speaking at a joint press conference in Warsaw on Nov. 6 alongside Sybiha and his Polish counterpart Radosław Sikorski, EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas also pointed to heavy Russian losses, citing an estimated figure of more than 54,000 Russian soldiers killed or seriously wounded in October alone.“This is a staggering amount, roughly the capacity of Warsaw’s National Stadium,” Kallas said, adding: “Russia cannot sustain such losses on such a scale indefinitely.”Kyiv Post, however, could not independently verify the figure.During the same conference, Sybiha reiterated that Ukraine’s frontline positions are currently the strongest they have been in the past three years of the war. Kyiv Post is Ukraine’s first and oldest English news organization, reporting since 1995. Its international reach – 90% of readers are outside of Ukraine – make it truly Ukraine’s global voice.