Ukraine warns of difficult upcoming months after a large-scale Russian missile attack

The Ukrainian presidency warned Thursday of difficult months in the wake of a large-scale missile attack launched by Russia on various parts of the country at night, which led to the killing of at least three people in Kherson and the wounding of seven in Kiev.

The attack, during which Moscow used dozens of cruise missiles, came hours after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky condemned before the UN Security Council the “criminal and unjustified” Russian invasion.

With the approach of winter, the authorities in Kiev fear that Russia will repeat a strategy it adopted in 2022, which was based on targeting energy facilities in order to cut off electricity and heating to the population.

Deputy Director of the Ukrainian Presidential Office, Oleksiy Kuleba, wrote on Telegram, “Tonight, Russia launched a massive attack on Ukraine… Difficult months await us ahead: Russia will continue to attack Ukrainian energy and basic facilities”.

He accused Russia of working to incite terror and panic by targeting civilians, dormitories, gas stations, hotels, energy facilities and civilian facilities.

For the first time in six months, energy facilities were damaged in western and central Ukraine, causing power outages in several areas, according to the Ukrainian energy company.

Although the Ukrainian forces announced that they intercepted most of the missiles, a number of them achieved direct hits on the ground.

Ukrainian Army Chief of Staff Valery Zaluzhny said, “Combat operations of the Air Force, in cooperation with air defenses… allowed the destruction of 36 cruise missiles out of a total of 43 missiles”.

In addition to the material damage, the missiles or their fragments led to deaths and injuries, especially in Kherson in the south of the country.

Interior Minister Igor Klimenko said, “In Kherson, in the middle of the night, the enemy began targeting residential areas,” noting that this led to “the killing of three people… and the injury of five others”.

The Ukrainian military administration confirmed the interception of more than 20 targets in the airspace of the capital.

The commander of the capital’s military administration, Serhiy Popko, reported that fragments of the intercepted missiles fell on Golosyevsky, Darnitsky, Shevchenkivsky and Desnyansky districts.

Nine people were injured in the city of Cherkasy, south of Kiev, according to what ambulance teams confirmed, noting that the bombing hit a hotel and 13 people were evacuated from the site.

The attacks targeted the city of Kharkiv in eastern Ukraine, where mayor Igor Terekhov confirmed that two people were injured.

The head of the regional military administration, Oleg Sinigubov, reported that there had been “six strikes especially in the Slobidski area, and civilian facilities were damaged”.

The strikes reached Lviv in the northwest of the country, according to the governor of the region, Maxim Kozitsky.

He pointed out that three missiles struck the city of Drogobych near Lviv, without providing details about casualties.

The bombing also targeted the Rivne area (northwest), where there was a power outage.

The attacks came hours after Moscow confirmed that it had shot down 22 Ukrainian drones over the Crimean Peninsula, which Moscow annexed in 2014, the Black Sea, and Russian regions, most notably Belgorod and Oryol.

The pace of Ukrainian drone attacks targeting Russian territory has increased since Kiev began its counterattack in June.

These attacks are now targeting many Russian regions, including the capital, Moscow, as well as the Crimean Peninsula and areas overlooking the Black Sea.

The Russian attacks came at a time when President Zelensky is visiting the United States, where he participated in the meetings of the United Nations General Assembly.