Destruction from Russian attacks on the Kherson region in southern Ukraine, October 28, 2023

Sunday’s Coverage: 66 Countries in Malta Summit on Kyiv’s Peace Formula

Map: Institute for the Study of War

UPDATE 1613 GMT:

The first US-made F-16 fighter jets for Ukraine, supplied by the Netherlands, will arrive in a training center in Romania within two weeks.

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said, “I expect the Patriot [air defense] missiles to be delivered shortly, to aid Ukraine in the upcoming winter. And the same speed applies to the F-16s.”

Denmark, Norway, and Belgium are also providing F-16 jets to Ukraine.

UPDATE 1606 GMT:

Russian shelling has killed another elderly woman in the Kherson region of southern Ukraine.

A local officials said the 91-year-old resident died after a a wall fell on her during the “terrifying night” of attacks, when a high-rise apartment building was set afire and apartments were reduced to rubble.

The Russian attacks also killed an 85-year-old woman and injured three other civilians (see Original Entry).

One person was killed and one wounded when a cemetery came under fire.

UPDATE 1057 GMT:

The Ukraine military says it “successfully hit” part of Russia’s air defense system on the western coast of occupied Crimea overnight.

Rybar, a Telegram channel linked to the Russian army, said Ukraine launched two US-made ATACMS missiles which landed near the village of Olenivka. It claimed, “Thanks to measures taken earlier, there was no serious damage.”

UPDATE 1039 GMT:

UK military intelligence notes that Russia is recruiting women into combat roles in Ukraine for the first time.

The social media advertising is by the Borz Battalion, part of the “private military company” Redut. They seek the women to work as snipers and uncrewed aerial vehicle operators.

The British analysts note that “Redut is likely directly sponsored by the Russian main directorate of intelligence”.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoygu said in March that 1,100 women were deployed in Ukraine. Redut points out that most are in medical support and food service roles.

UPDATE 0844 GMT:

Moscow’s troops murdered a family in Russian-occupied part of the Donetsk region, because they refused to give their homes to Chechen troops, the Ukraine Parliament’s Ombudsman for Human Rights has found.

Dmytro Lubinets said nine people were killed in Volnovakha soon after a birthday party on Friday. Among the dead were a 4th-grade student and a pre-school boy.

The Russian Investigative Committee confirmed nine bodies were discovered in Volnovakha. Citing locals, the Russian news outlet ASTRA wrote that the murders were committed by a Russian soldier who had been in a verbal conflict with one of the victims.

Eyewitnesses said the family members were slain by gunshots to the head as they lay in their beds.

UPDATE 0737 GMT:

Two people have been wounded in a Russian missile attack on a ship repair yard in the Odesa region in southern Ukraine.

Governor Oleh Kiper a fire was quickly extinguished. An administrative building and equipment were damaged.

UPDATE 0631 GMT:

Ukraine and the US are combining advanced Western-supplied surface-to-air missiles with refitted Soviet-era launchers or radars to bolster Kyiv’s air defenses.

Sources told The New York Times of the “FrankenSAM” program. One version pairs Soviet Buk launchers and American Sea Sparrow missiles. The other connects Soviet-era radars to American Sidewinder missiles.

The systems have been tested over the past several months on military bases in the US and will be delivered to Ukraine this fall.

ORIGINAL ENTRY: Ukraine’s air defenses downed 12 Iranian-made Shahed “kamikaze” drones and two cruise missiles in Russia’s latest attacks overnight.

However, an 85-year-old woman was killed and three other civilians wounded by Russian shelling of Kherson city in southern Ukraine.

The missiles were fired on the Dnipropetrovsk region in south-central Ukraine. Debris from the downed weapons damaged a five-story apartment block, a detached house, and a car.

Russia is continuing to fire missiles and drones on a daily basis across Ukraine. However, the attacks are far diminished from a year ago, when more than 100 missiles and dozens of drones might be launched within 24 hours in Vladimir Putin’s “energy war”.

Up to half of Ukraine’s power network was taken off-line, with about 70 large facilities damaged, says the head of State grid operator Ukrenergo, Volodymyr Kudrytskyi. He adds, “Many lower-level facilities were damaged in frontline areas by artillery strikes, small transformer points or regional substations. There are probably hundreds, thousands of them.”

But air defenses held up and Putin failed to break Ukrainian resistance. Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal says 80% of main power grids and high-voltage stations have been repaired to pre-war conditions.

Ukraine’s officials, including President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, are warning that despite the diminished attacks, Russia will pursue a second winter campaign trying to freeze the country.

Zelenskiy said on Wednesday, “We are preparing for terrorist attacks on our energy infrastructure. This year we will not only defend ourselves, but also respond.”

Russia’s Attack on Kherson

Russia’s fatal attack on Kherson city was carried out from the east bank of the Dnipro River, across from the regional capital, about midnight.

City head Roman Mrochko said high-rise buildings were damaged.

One of the apartments caught fire as a result of the impact. An 85-year-old woman died there. Another victim with burns and poisoning by combustion products was taken to the hospital.

A 68-year-old man and 34-year-old woman were also wounded.