In the night to Saturday, Russia attacked Ukraine with ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and 332 combat drones; according to preliminary figures, air defence intercepted 293 targets. This was reported by the press office of the Air Force of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, according to Deutsche Welle.
According to the Air Force, as of 8.00 a.m., four Kalibr-type cruise missiles and 289 drones were destroyed or suppressed, including 23 jet-powered ones, the Air Force stated. The ballistic missiles could not be intercepted. As Deutsche Welle reports, citing the Air Force Command, Russia deployed Iskander-M or KN-23 missiles, Kh-22/32 cruise missiles, four sea-launched Kalibr missiles and 332 combat drones, including 31 jet-powered ones as well as types such as S-8000 “Banderol”, “Gerbera” and “Parodija”-type decoys. Hits by attack means were recorded at 22 locations, and debris from downed targets fell at three further sites.
According to Deutsche Welle, the attacks hit Zaporizhzhia and Kryvyi Rih in the early morning. In Zaporizhzhia, five people were injured, including a child; houses and industrial facilities were damaged. In Kryvyi Rih, the attack hit a company. According to the head of the regional military administration, Nataliia Sabolotna, the Vinnytsia region was completely without power; she spoke of one of the most massive attacks since the start of the war. Civil and critical infrastructure had been damaged, and six people were injured.
Regarding Kherson, Deutsche Welle reported massed air strikes: one man died, 15 people were injured, including two medics and two children. Russia fired missiles at Kharkiv the previous evening; by the morning, 15 injured people were known.
The news outlet Kyiv Independent reports, citing regional authorities, that seven people were killed and around 90 injured by Russian attacks within one day. In the Kharkiv region, a 58-year-old man and a 71-year-old woman were killed, and a further 41 people were injured or suffered stress, including three children, according to Governor Oleh Syniehubov. In the Sumy region, four women and three men were injured by drone attacks. Near Nikopol in the Dnipropetrovsk region, a 74-year-old woman was killed and two men were injured, according to Governor Oleksandr Hansha; another man was killed in Dnipro after an attack on an industrial facility. In the Odesa region, at least four people were injured, according to Governor Oleh Kiper. In Kramatorsk in the Donetsk region, two people were killed and 15 others injured in the region, according to Governor Vadym Filashkin. In the Zaporizhzhia region, six people were injured, according to Ivan Fedorov, head of the region’s defence council. In the Kherson region, 31 towns and villages were attacked, one person was killed and at least 19 injured, including children, according to Governor Oleksandr Prokudin.
According to the Kyiv Independent, the attacks coincided with Russia’s continued campaign against Ukraine’s power grid ahead of winter. The Energy Ministry stated that attacks on energy facilities in the night and morning of 17 October left some households without power.
