Russian Strike Kills 15 in Ukraine and Triggers Kyiv Power Cuts
Russian missiles and drones struck Kyiv and at least a dozen other Ukrainian regions overnight, killing at least 15 civilians including three children and triggering emergency power and water outages in the capital.
Casualties and Damage from Overnight Barrage
Russian missiles and drones pounded Kyiv and a dozen other Ukrainian regions overnight into yesterday, killing at least 12 civilians, including three children, and wounding more than 40 in Moscow’s latest devastating barrage, Ukrainian officials said. [3] A Russian strike destroyed an apartment block in Pryluky, in Ukraine’s northern Chernihiv region, killing nine people, including three children, and wounding 34, Ukrainian Minister of Internal Affairs Ihor Vyhivskyi said. [3] At least 15 people have died in overnight strikes across central and eastern Ukraine. [5] Ukraine's president said a residential building in Pryluky in the Chernihiv region was destroyed as a "birthday 'gift' to Putin", who turns 74 on Wednesday. [5] Strikes also hit Kyiv, Dnipro, Kremenchuk, Zaporizhzhia and Oleksandriya. [5] In Kremenchuk, in the Poltava region, two people were killed and seven injured, and a rescue operation was continuing, Poltava Oblast Governor Vitalii Diakivnych said. [3] Two people were also killed and eight injured after Russian missile strikes damaged five apartment buildings in Dnipro and four high-rise buildings in Kremenchuk, said Zelensky. [5] Two people were also killed in the capital, Kyiv, and two others in Oleksandriya, he added. [5] Chernihiv Oblast police later reported that the death toll had risen to nine after the bodies of three children were recovered, with emergency workers continuing a search operation. [5] Five people had been killed and 26, including five children, injured in a strike on a five-storey apartment building in Pryluky. [5] “Ukraine has once again been hit by Russian missiles throughout the night,” Verkhovna Rada Human Rights Ombudsmen Dmytro Lubinets said on Telegram. [3] “Another sleepless night, another act of terror, after which people still have to plan their working day despite everything,” he added. [3] “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. [3] Emergency services work to rescue residents from the site of an apartment building that was hit by a Russian missile strike in Pryluky, Ukraine, yesterday. [3] Ukraine's national police posted pictures online showing what it says is an unexploded Russian Iskander missile in the middle of a Kyiv district. [5] A video posted by the police shows people digging through collapsed remains of a residential building in Pryluky. [5] Another verified video shows damage to cars and what appears to be rubble and a fallen tree in an area surrounded by apartment blocks in Kremenchuk. [5]
Emergency Power and Water Disruptions in Kyiv
Emergency power outages have been introduced in Kyiv and Kyiv Oblast following Russian attacks on the orders of Ukrenergo, Ukraine's national energy company. [1] Scheduled outage timetables do not apply during emergency power cuts. [1] Electric public transport services have been temporarily suspended on the right bank of Kyiv due to a lack of voltage in the overhead lines. [1] Water pumping stations in Kyiv have partially lost power due to electricity supply problems, causing water supply disruptions on the right bank of the city. [1] Stock photo: Getty Images Water pumping stations in Kyiv have partially lost power due to electricity supply problems, causing water supply disruptions on the right bank of the city. [2] According to Klitschko, energy workers are working to restore the supply. [2] He did not provide any further details regarding the disruptions. [2] On 8 October, hourly power outage schedules will be applied in some regions of the country. [2]
Russian strikes cause water supply disruptions on Kyiv's right bank. — Source: ukrainskapravda
Zelenskiy Response and Air Defense Needs
Ukraine had anticipated the attack, with President Volodymyr Zelenskiy warning the previous day that intelligence services had concluded that Russia was building up for a “massive” strike. [3] Although Ukraine knew about the looming attack, which coincided with Russian President Vladimir Putin’s 74th birthday, it could not fend it off completely. [3] The deaths and damage illustrated the difficulty Ukraine has in countering Russia’s ballistic missiles and the new jet-powered drones used in Moscow’s escalating bombardments. [3] Without ammunition for its US-made Patriot air defense systems, Ukraine cannot stop Russian ballistic weapons. [3] It is racing to develop a new generation of interceptors fast enough to catch Moscow’s high-flying jet-propelled drones. [3] “The Russians wanted to strike painfully and demonstratively,” the Ukrainian leader said on social media. [3] Ukraine is looking worldwide for available Patriot missiles, which are in short supply due to the Iran war. [3] “Russian ballistic missiles remain the greatest challenge, and air defense packages for us right now are a vital necessity,” Zelenskiy said. [3] Zelensky renewed a call for allies to provide air defence support packages to Ukraine, saying its military only managed to shoot down "some" of the missiles launched by Russia overnight. [5] According to Zelensky, one of the "key targets" of the attack was the country's energy infrastructure, which Moscow earlier said it would intensify strikes on following Ukraine's strikes on Moscow's energy facilities. [5] Zelensky said Ukraine had struck targets in attacks on Russia's Perm, Samara and Astrakhan regions in the past 24 hours, adding there was "also a response in the Black Sea", without providing further details. [5] "The Russians wanted to strike painfully and demonstratively," Zelensky said, adding that 70 missiles were fired in total. [5]
Ukrainian Retaliatory Strikes on Russia
Ukraine has hit back at Russia by launching long-range drones and missiles on oil refineries and storage depots. [3] Zelenskiy said that Ukraine targeted two oil facilities and a training ground in the Perm, Samara and Astrakhan regions of Russia. [3] Zelenskiy also indicated that Ukraine had struck in the Black Sea. [3] He posted images of a fire said to show an oil tanker burning in the water near the Russian city of Sochi. [3] It was not possible to independently verify the images. [3] Some Russian online media late on Tuesday also posted the images. [3] Unconfirmed media reports said it was carrying oil from Novorossiysk to India and was attacked by Ukrainian sea drones. [3] In a separate post on Wednesday, Zelensky said Ukraine had struck four targets in retaliatory attacks in the past 24 hours, including two oil facilities and a training ground in the Perm, Samara and Astrakhan regions. [5] "There is also a response in the Black Sea," the Ukrainian president wrote. [5] On Tuesday evening, footage emerged showing a huge plume of smoke engulfing an oil tanker off the coast of Sochi, along the Black Sea in southern Russia. [5] The Russian transport ministry later said unmanned boats had attacked the Liberian-flagged Aframax Rio oil tanker. [5] Authorities claim the crew was rescued. [5]
Russian Ministry Account of Targets
The Russian Ministry of Defense said the military carried out a massive strike overnight targeting industrial facilities involved in the production and storage of missiles and drones across Ukraine. [3] The ministry said that port and ship repair facilities in the southern Odesa region and ships carrying cargo for the Ukrainian military were also hit. [3]
Context of Escalating Black Sea Incidents
The Alfa Watan, a ship sailing under the flag of Togo, and the Able, a vessel flying the flag of Palau, were targeted by naval and aerial drones on Tuesday (6 October) morning in the Black Sea near the Bulgarian coast. [4] The Alfa Watan sank, and rescuers at the scene found only an overturned boat, life jackets, and fragments of the ship’s equipment, according to Bulgarian prime minister Rumen Radev. [4] The 18-member crew of the Able caught fire, but was successfully evacuated to the port of Varna. [4] “This is an unacceptable attack in Bulgaria’s exclusive economic zone,” Radev said after an emergency government meeting on Tuesday. [4] Bulgaria had discussed the drone attack inside the EU and Nato, he added. [4] It came after a drone also sank a Turkish-owned grain ship, the Royad Mammadov, killing two sailors, on Monday. [4] But even though Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky was quick to blame Russia, the perpetrators have not been formally identified yet, in a grey-zone conflict in which deniability is a tactic. [4] Russia and Ukraine have been escalating attacks on ships for several months in an effort to disrupt each other's export economies. [4] And Moscow’s attacks have largely halted Ukraine’s maritime exports of agricultural products, while Kyiv’s attacks have forced Russia to seek alternative routes for exports. [4] “The situation in the Black Sea is increasingly concerning,” said EU Commission’s president Ursula von der Leyen on X on Tuesday. [4] Ukraine has “proposed concrete steps to de-escalate the situation”, also said Zelensky. [4] Separately, Bulgaria has halted a search for the missing crew of a ship that sank after being hit by a drone on Tuesday, Vice-Admiral Rumen Nikolov from the Maritime Administration Executive Agency said, as reported by Bulgarian television network Nora TV. [5] Tracking data shows the ship was anchored at the southern end of the Bosphorus strait until Monday when it entered the Black Sea heading north. [5] Its last reported position on ship-tracking site MarineTraffic was at 23:43 GMT on Monday in what is known as the Bulgarian exclusive economic zone of the Black Sea. [5] Bulgarian specialist news outlet Maritime.bg reported the Alfa Watan was attacked by a drone and sank 70nm (130km) east of Byala. [5] As well as the civilian cargo ship, a second vessel - carrying grain - was also hit within Bulgaria's exclusive economic zone, its Prime Minister Rumen Radev said on Tuesday. [5] The 18 crew members on the second vessel were rescued. [5] Bulgaria has not said who it believes was behind the attacks. [5] It comes as Russia intensifies strikes in the Black Sea, particularly the eastern side, as part of its war against Ukraine. [5] In an evening address on Tuesday, Zelensky claimed Russia was responsible for the attacks. [5] Moscow has not commented on the latest incident. [5]
What to watch next: Ukraine continues to seek additional Patriot missiles amid shortages while both sides escalate strikes on energy and maritime targets in the Black Sea region.
