Rescuers dig through rubble of apartment block destroyed by Russian missile strike, Pryluky, Chernihiv region, Ukraine, October 7, 2026
Wednesday’s Coverage: Kyiv Strikes Russian Oil Tanker In Black Sea Near Russia’s Sochi
UPDATE 1408 GMT:
Volodymyr Zelensky reports on his visit to the site of a Russian mass killing in northern Ukraine on Wednesday.
Today, together with UK Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband, we paid tribute to those who were killed in the Russian missile strike on a residential building in Pryluky. The attack claimed 22 lives, including five children. Another 54 people were injured.
I spoke with those affected. We also received reports on the consequences of the attack. More than 100 residential buildings were damaged, as were educational institutions, kindergartens, shops, businesses, and the infrastructure that sustains normal life in the city.
We hear the people – there are issues with shelters and housing in the city. I instructed the head of the regional military administration to promptly help those who, unfortunately, have nowhere to go. And it is important that those affected ultimately receive new homes. Also, as soon as the security situation allows, residents of the destroyed building must be given access to their damaged apartments. The Head of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine must see to it.
I am grateful to Ed Miliband for coming today to support our people. When our partners are literally standing alongside Ukrainians, it truly matters. Thank you to everyone helping our people on the ground.
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) October 8, 2026
UPDATE 1357 GMT:
At least 33 civilians have been murdered and 18 wounded by a Russian glide bomb strike on two minibuses in Kramatorsk in eastern Ukraine.
The buses were set afire. President Volodymyr Zelensky, noting that two of the slain could not be identified because of the severity of their injuries, said the toll may increase as doctors fight to save lives.
“Russia comes to the Ukrainian land with death. She hits our cities, kills our people and multiplies her crimes every day,” said Donetsk Governor Vadym Filashkin.
Zelensky pledged, “This strike will not go without our response. Russia is trying to destroy all life in Donbas, and the world needs to react to this.”
Doctors are now fighting to save the lives of people injured in the Russian strike on Kramatorsk. As of now, 30 people have been confirmed killed, and sadly, that number may rise. The Russian bomb effectively hit two city minibuses. Some of those killed have still not been identified because of the severity of their injuries. My condolences to all their families and loved ones. Another 18 people were injured in the strike. Residential buildings and cars were also damaged.
This strike will not go unanswered. Russia is trying to destroy all life in Donbas, and a response from the world is a must. A forceful response – exactly as the Russians deserve for all the deaths they have brought. May all those killed rest in peace.
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) October 8, 2026
UPDATE 0750 GMT:
South Korea’s government says it will take legal action if it finds that shipments of fuel from its ports to Russia broke domestic law.
Analysis by The Guardian of port records and ship-tracking data found more than 176,000 tons of fuel, mostly diesel, was loaded at several South Korean ports onto seven tankers that made 14 voyages to Russia’s Far East in July and August.
Three of the tankers were under UK and European Union sanctions. One of them took on around 26,000 tons through a ship-to-ship transfer at an anchorage off the southern port of Yeosu. Each told South Korean authorities that the final destination was Japan or Singapore rather than Vladivostok.
Seoul said it is “checking additional information concerning the loading cases reported by the Guardian” and “if the verification establishes that our laws and regulations have been violated, it plans to act in accordance with the law”.
“As reported by the Guardian, the loading of refined petroleum products at our ports does not constitute a violation of our domestic law”, the Government maintained. It said the export of fuel of South Korean origin “has not been confirmed”, with no shipment from South Korea to Russia going through customs clearance.
South Korean records do not indicate who owned or sold the fuel.
The government added that the “mere fact that a vessel did not proceed directly to the final destination country stated on its declaration and instead moved to another country makes it difficult to conclude that there is a suspicion of false declaration of destination”.
UPDATE 0621 GMT:
Donald Trump’s envoy, son-in-law Jared Kushner, and other US officials have spoken with the Kremlin about bringing a US investor into the Nord Stream pipelines that delivered gas to Germany before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
“Five people with knowledge of the situation” said the discussions included Kirill Dmitriev, Vladimir Putin’s senior advisor who has manipulated Kushner and fellow envoy Steve Witkoff since spring 2025.
Dmitriev and Kushner have met in New York and Moscow recently, including the trip of the envoys to the Kremlin on September 5.
Vladimir Putin also proposed that the overseas assets of Russian oil giant Lukoil be sold to a consortium, including a leading donor to the Trump camp and three Middle Eastern businessmen. Two of those businessmen are connected to Witkoff, his son Zach Witkoff, and Eric and Donald Trump Jr. through the cryptocurrency firm World Liberty Financial. The other is linked to Kushner through a luxury resort project in Albania worth more than $5 billion.
UPDATE 0621 GMT:
The toll in Kyiv has risen to four murdered and 21 injured by Russia’s overnight strikes.
One drone crashed into the 10th floor of a 12-story residential building in the Desnyansky district, setting it afire. The bodies of two people were found in one of the damaged apartments. Four more people, including two children, were injured. Emergency services rescued 22 people, including eight children.
UPDATE 0550 GMT:
An overnight drone attack damaged and set afire the largest data center of Yandex, located in the Ryazan region in western Russia.
The facility in the city of Sasovo supports the company’s services and cloud infrastructure.
Yandex Cloud acknowledged an “incident” and power supply problems in its “ru-central1-b availability zone”. Disruptions began around 1:30 a.m. Yandex warned that the outage could affect other parts of its cloud network and advised customers to move services elsewhere while engineers worked to restore operations.
The Gazprom Neftekhim Salavat oil refinery in the Bashkortostan Republic was also struck last night, reported Ukrainian channel Exilenova+. The war monitor Astra said a fire had broken out near the refinery.
The complex processes up to 10 million tons of hydrocarbons per year and produces more than 150 different products, including motor gasoline, diesel fuel, fuel oil, bitumen, polyethylene, styrene, and ammonia. It has been hit recurrently by drone completely shut down the refinery.
ORIGINAL ENTRY: Russia murdered 20 civilians, including five children, in a missile strike on an apartment block in the Chernihiv region in northern Ukraine early Wednesday.
At least 28 people were killed across the country during the day as Russia fired 70 missiles and 130 drones.
The strike on Pryluky in Chernihiv collapsed a five-story residential building. Three of the murdered children were 1 year old, and another was 8. Fifteen people were rescued by an excavator and dozens of rescuers with shovels.
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky posted, “The Russians wanted to strike painfully and demonstratively. This was one of the most vile strikes.”
On Wednesday evening, falling debris from a drone killed two people in a suburb of Kyiv.
“I Wish Putin Could Feel Fraction of What We and Our Children Feel”
Olga, a 41-year-old resident of Pryluky, said of Vladimir Putin, whose 74th birthday was on Wednesday:
As a Christian, you cannot wish death on someone.
But I wish that he could feel even the tiniest fraction of what our people and our children are feeling. I wish he could feel it, and that the people around him could feel what our children are feeling.
Volodymyr Ivashchenko, 75, reflected, “It’s the 21st century. Is there really no one who can stop this one clown, or whatever you want to call him? How many more deaths can there be? How much more destruction?”
Zelensky said in his nightly address to the nation:
Overall, 25 people were killed in this massive Russian strike on Ukraine. One hundred people were injured. It was a combined attack, involving many ballistic and cruise missiles, as well as “shaheds.” This is the kind of “gift” Putin gave himself for his birthday.
Ukrainian warriors shot down 44 missiles – both cruise and ballistic. Not all of those launched by Russia, and ballistic missiles are especially difficult to deal with. We suppressed 117 “shaheds” – most of those launched, but unfortunately, not all of them either.
Additional packages of air defense missiles are needed, as are additional measures to support Ukraine. And there will be appropriate packages. The threat is there every day, and every day, our air defense batteries need to have missiles ready. We strongly count on prompt deliveries from our partners.
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) October 7, 2026
