Six people were injured in one of the heaviest Russian air strikes on the Vinnytsia region since the start of the full-scale war in the night to Saturday. The head of the regional military administration, Natalija Sabolotna, announced this on Facebook on Saturday, 17 October, according to the news outlet Kyiv Post.
According to Sabolotna, one injured person is in intensive care; her condition is serious but stable. Three other people were moderately injured and two lightly injured; all are receiving medical treatment. Civilian and critical infrastructure were damaged. Air defence intercepted 24 Russian drones over the region, Sabolotna wrote.
According to Governor Sabolotna, whom the news outlet NV quotes as “Natalia Zabolotna”, the city of Vinnytsia was completely without power. The water supply was also disrupted: the city’s main waterworks had no power, reported the public broadcaster Suspilne. Generators could not supply all buildings and floors with water, it said.
The mayor of Vinnytsia, Serhij Morhunow, announced that electric public transport is currently suspended and that more buses and minibuses are being deployed on the routes. He did not rule out internet outages and advised residents to follow updates on the radio station “Misto nad Buhom” on 101.8 FM. Repair crews and grid control centres switched critical facilities to emergency generators while working to restore power and water supplies. The regional administration called on people to switch on electrical appliances only gradually and alternately when reconnected, so as not to overload the grid.
The attack on the Vinnytsia region was part of a nationwide Russian attack in the night to Saturday. According to the Ukrainian air force command, Russia deployed Iskander-M and KN-23 missiles from the Voronezh and Rostov regions and from the occupied Crimea, as well as Kh-22 and Kh-32 cruise missiles from Crimea, four Kalibr cruise missiles from Novorossiysk and 332 drones. By 8.00 a.m. on Saturday, 293 air targets had been intercepted or suppressed, including all four Kalibr and 289 drones.
Other regions were also hit. In Kharkiv’s Nemyshlyanskyj district, according to Kyiv Post, 15 civilians were injured late on Friday evening, including three children; four fires broke out, and residential buildings and a warehouse were severely damaged. In the early hours of Saturday morning, missiles struck open ground near residential blocks in Zaporizhzhia. The head of the regional military administration, Iwan Fedorow, confirmed two injured people; three residential buildings were damaged and parked vehicles caught fire.
