Destruction in Zaporizhzhia city in southern Ukraine from Russian missile strikes, October 9, 2022 (Reuters)

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Sunday’s Coverage: Russia Assesses Damage to Kerch Bridge and Its Invasion

Source: Institute for the Study of War

UPDATE 1632 GMT:

Russia’s Defense Ministry says “all designated targets were hit” were hit in missile strike across Ukraine today.

Video of one of those targets, a children’s playground in Shevchenko Park in Kyiv:

UPDATE 1452 GMT:

“Deeply shocked” by Russia’s strikes today, UN Secretary General António Guterres has said through a spokesman: “This constitutes another unacceptable escalation of the war and, as always, civilians are paying the highest price.”

UPDATE 1442 GMT:

Detained Russian opposition politician Vladimir Kara-Murza has been awarded the Vaclav Havel Human Rights Prize by the Council of Europe.

Kara-Murza is in pre-trial detention on a charge of “spreading false information” about Russian armed forces, a law passed soon after Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine to shut down dissent within Russia. He faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted.

The politician was a close aide to opposition leader Boris Nemtsov, who was shot dead in central Moscow in 2015. He was the victim of poisonings, falling into a coma in 2015 and 2017.

UPDATE 1314 GMT:

Soon after Kyiv’s air raid sirens stopped after almost , they started again:

Vladimir Putin said the strikes are his response to Saturday’s explosion damaging his pet project the Kerch bridge, connecting Russian-occupied Crimea to Russia’s Taman Peninsul.

“It is simply impossible to leave crimes of this kind unanswered,” he declared at a Security Council meeting. “Russia’s response will be harsh and its scale will correspond to that of the threat made against the Russian Federation.”

UPDATE 1157 GMT:

This morning’s Russian strikes across Ukraine killed at least 11 people and wounded 64, say Ukrainian police.

The air raid alert in Kyiv, the longest during Vladimir Putin’s invasion, has ended after 5 hours and 47 minutes. People are back on the streets and metro service has resumed.

UPDATE 1040 GMT:

The building which includes Germany’s consulate in Kyiv has been hit by a Russian missile.

The consulate was empty, as it halted operations in February at the outset of Vladimir Putin’s invasion.

A Russian missile landed 850 meters from the Romanian Embassy, tweeted Foreign Minister Bogdan Aurescu:

UPDATE 1022 GMT:

Belarus leader Alexander Lukashenko has announced a joint Belarusian-Russian military task force in the region.

Lukashenko said, “This is all according to our documents. If the threat level reaches the current level, as it is now, we begin to use the union state grouping.”

Analysts are evaluating whether the declaration portend the entry of Belarus into the war or just an escalation of Russian forces using the country for operations in neighboring Ukraine.

UPDATE 0916 GMT:

Ukraine Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal says 11 infrastructure facilities in eight regions and the capital Kyiv have been damaged by Russian strikes this morning: “Now some areas are cut off. It is necessary to be prepared for temporary interruptions of light, water supply, and communication.”

UPDATE 0913 GMT:

Moldova Foreign Minister Nicu Popescu has summoned the Russian Ambassador to explain Moscow’s violation of Moldovan airspace, with three missiles launched from the Black Sea into Ukraine.

UPDATE 0825 GMT:

Ukraine’s military says it shot down 41 of 75 missiles fired by Russia on Monday morning.

The governor of the Dnipropetrovsk region in central Ukraine, Valentyn Reznichenko said “there are dead and wounded” from a “massive rocket attack”: “Do not come out of the shelters. There is still a threat.”

UPDATE 0815 GMT:

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has posted a video update on the Russian strikes, speaking from the street outside the Presidential office near sites where missiles landed:

The morning is difficult. We are dealing with terrorists. Dozens of missiles, Iranian “Shahids”. They have two targets. Energy facilities – throughout the country. Kyiv region and Khmelnytsky region, Lviv and Dnipro, Vinnytsia, Frankiv region, Zaporizhzhia, Sumy region, Kharkiv region, Zhytormyr region, Kirovohrad region, the south. They want panic and chaos, they want to destroy our energy system.

The second target is people. Such a time and such targets were specially chosen to cause as much damage as possible. Stay in shelters today. Always follow the safety rules. And always remember: Ukraine was here before this enemy appeared, Ukraine will be here after him.

UPDATE 0802 GMT:

The confirmed toll from this morning’s Russian strikes on Kyiv is five killed and 12 injured.

Interior Ministry official Rostyslav Smirnov said eight people have been slain and 24 injured.

Ukraine Defense Secretary Oleksiy Reznikov has joined President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba in calling for an escalation in international assistance with air defense:

The best response to russian missile terror is the supply of anti-aircraft and anti-missile systems to Ukraine – protect the sky over Ukraine!

This will protect our cities and our people. This will protect the future of Europe.
Evil must be punished.

UPDATE 0735 GMT:

Lviv Mayor Andriy Sadovyi says parts of the city in western Ukraine are without electricity or hot water after a Russian strike.

Backup power generators at pumping stations are restoring the water supply.

The governor of the Sumy region in northern Ukraine, Dmytro Zhyvytskyi, posted on Telegram:

There are power outages in all areas of the region. In some places, because of this, there are problems with water supply. In Konotop, two missiles hit an infrastructure object. There are wounded. The alarm continues, stay in shelters.

Three Russian strikes on Ukraine’s second city Kharkiv damaged energy infrastructure and caused fires at a medical institution. People have lost electricity and water supply in some districts.

UPDATE 0719 GMT:

In his nightly video address to the nation — after Sunday’s Russian mass killing in Zaporizhzhia but before this morning’s missile strikes on Kyiv and other cities — President Volodymyr Zelenskiy summarized why talks are not possible with Vladimir Putin:

Do negotiations really help overcome terror? Now everyone has to honestly answer this question. Terrorists get neutralized….

If terror goes unpunished, if a terrorist succeeds in intimidation so much that someone in the world wants to just agree to turn a blind eye to terror, then that would be a loss — loss of freedom, loss of humanity and loss of democracy.

This is exactly what Russia wants. This is exactly why it needs all this terror –– from missile strikes to global crises provoked by a terrorist state.

The President said that “to bring peace closer”, “Fundamental and sufficient aid to Ukraine is needed….The provision of a sufficient number of effective air defense systems to Ukraine must be sped up.”

Following this morning’s Russian attacks, Zelenskiy’s Chief of Staff Andriy Yermak wrote, “Cowards fighting playgrounds, children and people. This is another signal to the civilised world that the Russian question must be solved by force.”

UPDATE 0710 GMT:

A Ukrainian woman narrowly escapes a Russian missile strike:

UPDATE 0706 GMT:

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has responded to the latest Russian strikes on Kyiv, Zaporizhzhia, and other cities:

They are trying to destroy us and wipe us off the face of the earth. Destroy our people who are sleeping at home in Zaporizhzhia. Kill people who go to work in Dnipro and Kyiv.

He posted a video clip showing the aftermath of the strikes on Kyiv, with wrecked cars, buildings with shattered windows, and fires burning in the street.

UPDATE 0644 GMT:

The Russian strikes on Kyiv are next to Shevchenko Park, near the government quarter. One missile hit a major intersection during rush hour.

The governor of the Kyiv region, Oleksiy Kuleba, updated on Telegram:

The air attack continues, I ask everyone to remain calm and stay in shelters….

I emphasize that the air alert is still ongoing. Don’t ignore it and stay in cover. Do not photograph or film landing sites or damaged infrastructure. People’s lives depend on it. Let’s hold on.

UPDATE 0638 GMT:

Russian forces have also fired missiles on the capital Kyiv this morning.

The blasts are in the Shevchenkiv district. Cars are burning, and windows have been shattered in buildings.

There have been casualties.

ORIGINAL ENTRY: Reeling from Ukrainian counter-offensives and the serious damage to the Kerch Bridge, Russia has carried out its second mass killing in three days in Zaporizhzhia city in southern Ukraine.

Russian missiles killed at least 14 people and wounded more than 70, including children. Five buildings were destroyed, including a nine-story residential block, and at least 20 private homes and 50 apartment buildings were damaged.

The attacks early Sunday morning came three days after 19 people, including a child, were slain by Russian missiles on the city.

The Russians attacked again just before 3 am Monday. At least one person has been killed, and five injured.

Zaporizhzhia city is in the Ukrainian-controlled portion of the region of the same name. Last week Vladimir Putin declared the “annexation” of the Russian-held part, along with occupied territory in three other regions.

However, the “annexation” is being hollowed out by the Ukrainian counter-offensives in the south and the east. In the Kherson region, next to Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine’s forces broke through Russian frontlines and liberated about 500 square km (193 square miles) early last eek.

“Absolute Evil”

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy posted on Facebook on Sunday morning:

Again merciless strikes on civilians. In residential buildings, just in the middle of the night….

The absolute meanness of it all. Absolute evil.

Inhumans and terrorists. From the one who gave this order, and to all who followed this order. They will be held accountable. A must. Before the law and before the people.

Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said the mass killing bore out the necessity of international military aid for air defense.

Vladimir Putin did not mention Zaporizhzhia in a video address on Sunday address. Instead, he said the explosion on the 12-mile Kerch Bridge linking Russian-occupied Crimea with southwest Russia — his pet project after the seizure of Crimea in 2014 — was an “act of terrorism” carried out by “Ukrainian special services”.