Ukraine: Russian strikes kill 19 as Kyiv struggles to repel barrage

• Russian missile and drone attacks kill at least 19 civilians, including four children, across Ukraine.

• Kyiv faces shortages of Patriot missiles as Russian ballistic weapons and jet-powered drones intensify pressure on its air defences.

• Ukraine claims retaliatory strikes on Russian oil facilities and a tanker near Sochi, with reports still unverified.

Russian missiles and drones pounded Kyiv and at least a dozen other Ukrainian regions overnight into Wednesday, 7 October, killing at least 19 civilians, including four children, and injuring around 60, Ukrainian officials said, in one of Moscow’s latest devastating aerial assaults.

The attack came a day after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned that intelligence assessments indicated Russia was preparing a “massive” strike. Despite anticipating the assault, Ukraine was unable to intercept all the incoming weapons.

The bombardment, which coincided with Russian President Vladimir Putin’s 74th birthday, underscored Kyiv’s continuing vulnerability to Russian ballistic missiles and a new generation of jet-powered drones being deployed in increasingly intense aerial attacks.

Ukraine is struggling to replenish ammunition for its US-made Patriot air defence systems, which are crucial to intercepting Russian ballistic missiles. It is also racing to develop a new generation of interceptors capable of catching faster, high-altitude jet-powered drones.

The latest attacks highlight the growing importance of long-range aerial warfare in a conflict in which Russian and Ukrainian ground forces remain largely deadlocked, more than four and a half years after Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of its neighbour.

While the sustained bombardment is inflicting damage on Russia, the campaign could prove devastating for Ukraine, which has fewer resources to absorb prolonged attacks on its cities and infrastructure.

US-led diplomatic efforts have offered little prospect of immediate relief. Even the possibility of low-level technical talks remains under discussion. Western analysts say Putin is pressing ahead with the invasion in the belief that continued military pressure will eventually wear down the Ukrainian population and weaken the resolve of Kyiv’s Western supporters.

'Russia wants Ukrainians to be afraid to sleep'

A Russian strike destroyed an apartment building in Pryluky, in Ukraine’s northern Chernihiv region, killing 13 people, including four children, and injuring around 50, Interior Minister Ihor Vyhivskyi said.

Casualties were also reported in three other Ukrainian cities, including Kyiv, according to Zelenskyy.

“The Russians wanted to strike painfully and demonstratively,” Zelenskyy said in a social media post.

Ukraine is scrambling to secure Patriot missiles from international partners as supplies remain tight amid the war involving Iran, further complicating Kyiv’s efforts to defend its airspace.

“Russian ballistic missiles remain the greatest challenge. And air defence packages for us right now are a vital necessity,” Zelenskyy said.

In Kremenchuk, in the Poltava region, two people were killed and seven injured, regional military administration chief Vitalii Diakivnych said. Rescue operations were continuing.

Diakivnych said the attacks were intended to spread fear well beyond the immediate areas hit.

“That is exactly what the enemy is counting on. For us to be afraid to fall asleep. To let our children out of our sight. To plan anything. So that everyone thinks: next time it could be my address,” he said.

Russia’s Defence Ministry said its forces had carried out a large-scale overnight operation targeting industrial facilities involved in the production and storage of missiles and drones across Ukraine.

The ministry also claimed that port and ship-repair facilities in the southern Odesa region, along with vessels transporting cargo for the Ukrainian military, had been hit.

Ukraine strikes Russian oil facilities

Ukraine retaliated with long-range drone and missile attacks targeting Russian oil infrastructure, including refineries and storage facilities, Zelenskyy said on Wednesday.

He said Ukrainian forces had struck two oil facilities and a training ground in Russia’s Perm, Samara and Astrakhan regions. Russian officials had not immediately commented on the claims.

Zelenskyy also indicated that Ukraine had carried out an attack in the Black Sea, posting images purportedly showing an oil tanker on fire in waters near the Russian city of Sochi.

The images could not be independently verified.

Russian online media outlets also circulated the footage late on Tuesday. Unconfirmed reports said the vessel was transporting oil from Novorossiysk to India when it was attacked by Ukrainian naval drones.

The reported strikes underline Kyiv’s efforts to take the fight deeper into Russian territory by targeting energy infrastructure and other facilities that help sustain Moscow’s war effort, even as Ukraine struggles to protect its own cities from repeated aerial bombardments.

With AP/PTI inputs