Ukraine’s Zelenskyy to meet Trump as Russia focuses on Donetsk offensive
Russia is increasing air attacks to compensate for its failure to crack Ukrainian defences on the ground, according to Kyiv.
“Russia has started a new wave of air terror against Ukraine – against our cities and civilian infrastructure,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told NATO’s 71st Parliamentary Assembly on October 13.
Zelenskyy spoke days after Russia launched an overnight strike against Ukraine’s energy infrastructure involving 465 drones and 19 missiles.
Ukraine said it downed 405 of the drones and 15 missiles. The remainder deprived three-quarters of a million Ukrainians of electricity for the day, wounded 20 people and killed a seven-year-old boy.
Zelenskyy said cold autumn weather had reduced the effectiveness of Ukraine’s air defences by 20-30 percent, claiming Russia “deliberately waited” for this.
On Wednesday, Russian drones again knocked out power in some parts of Ukraine and struck a thermal power plant, according to Naftogaz, Ukraine’s gas utility.
Russia ‘increased the number of air attack means’
On the battlefront, too, Russia was turning to the air.
“In a month, the enemy has increased the number of air attack means used by 1.3 times,” wrote Ukrainian commander-in-chief Oleksandr Syrskii on his Telegram channel on Saturday.
Syrskii generally refers to Russian first-person view (FPV) drones and air-launched glide bombs, which Russia uses at the front in addition to artillery and multiple launch rocket systems.
