According to Ukrainian officials, two individuals lost their lives and 13 others sustained injuries in Kyiv due to Russian missiles and drones striking various locations in Ukraine overnight, including infrastructure and energy facilities.
The assault in Kyiv resulted in multiple fires and destruction of residential infrastructure, such as a kindergarten, as reported by city authorities.
Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko condemned the attacks as targeting civilian and energy infrastructure, alleging that Russia is deliberately trying to create a humanitarian crisis in Ukraine ahead of winter.
Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha stated that Russian missiles and drones also attacked the energy grid, railroads, and residences in Dnipro, Kharkiv, and Sumy.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with ‘coalition of the willing’ countries in the U.K. and Mark Rutte, secretary general of NATO, welcomed recent U.S. sanctions on Russia as a way to draw them to the negotiating table.
The Russian Defence Ministry, in a Telegram statement, claimed that the overnight strikes targeted Ukrainian military-industrial complex enterprises and energy infrastructure facilities supporting their operations.
In a separate statement, Russia’s Defence Ministry announced that its forces had shot down 121 Ukrainian drones overnight, including seven bound for Moscow.
Zelenskyy urges Western air defence systems
In Kyiv, large smoke clouds were visible on Saturday morning as firefighters worked to extinguish fires throughout the city.
By midday, they had contained one fire in a 140,000-square-foot warehouse with the aid of two helicopters and extinguished a separate building fire.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy emphasized the necessity of Patriot air defence systems to safeguard Ukrainian cities against ongoing Russian attacks.
Zelenskyy highlighted that Russia has launched approximately 770 ballistic missiles and over 50 ‘Kinzhal’ missiles at Ukraine this year alone, underscoring the importance of Patriot systems for defense.
He further urged countries with relevant capabilities, including the U.S., to implement discussed strategies to counter such attacks.
- <a class="cardWrapper-u5T0r cardWrapper-_487P noPaddingCardWrapper" data-feature-instance="similar-link" data-feature-name="link" data