Russia launches a combination of missiles and drones at Kyiv, sends 90 drones at targets across Ukraine. A senior Russian naval officer killed in Crimea in a car bomb hit claimed by Ukraine’s Security Service. A majority of Ukrainians believe their country will defeat Russia, a poll finds.
Russia launches a combination of missiles, drones at Kyiv, sends 90 drones at targets across Ukraine
Russia attacked the Ukrainian capital Kyiv on Wednesday with a combination of missiles and drones for the first time in 73 days, head of the city’s military administration, Serhiy Popko reported. Falling debris injured one person in the suburb of Brovary and set a warehouse on fire.
In a morning report that sums up the attacks across the country throughout most of the past day, the Ukrainian Air Force said Russia had fired at Ukraine a total of six missiles and 90 drones. The missiles included two S-300 surface-to-air missiles, two Kh-101/Kh-555 cruise missiles launched from Tu-95MS strategic bombers flying over the Caspian Sea, and two ground-launched Iskander-M/KN-23 ballistic missiles.
Ukraine’s air defenses downed four missiles — two Kh-101 and two Iskander-M/KN-23 missiles, and 37 drones. Another 47 drones disappeared off radar after likely being disabled by electronic warfare systems. Two drones flew into Belarus and two more into Russia. At 10 a.m. when the report was released, two drones were still in the Ukrainian air space, the military added.
Reacting to the attack, President Zelenskyi said on X: “It is crucial that our forces have the necessary means to defend the country from Russian terror. I am grateful to each of our partners who help us. Timely delivery of interceptor missiles for our air defense, fulfilling agreements on defense systems, and electronic warfare production and supply are, without exaggeration, lifesaving efforts.”
Senior Russian naval officer killed in Crimea in car bomb hit claimed by Ukraine’s Security Service
A bomb planted under a car blew up and killed Valery Trankovsky, the chief of staff of the 41st Missile Brigade of the Russian navy’s Black Sea fleet in occupied Crimea’s city of Sevastopol on Wednesday. The attack was orchestrated by Ukraine’s Security Service, a source told The New Voice of Ukraine.
Russian media reported that the explosion tore off Trankovsky’s legs and he died from blood loss.
The source said Trankovsky was “a war criminal” who had ordered missile strikes from the Black Sea at civilian targets in Ukraine, including the one on Vinnytsya in July 2022 that killed 29 people. The source described the hit as legitimate and in line with the customs of war.
Trankovsky had reportedly been under surveillance for about a week, and the homemade explosive device was detonated remotely, according to Russian media.
The source said it was symbolic that the bomb had detonated on Taras Shevchenko street, which is named after Ukraine’s prominent poet. “Punishment for an evil deed is just a matter of time. Occupying forces and murderers will not feel safe wherever they are,” the source said.
Majority of Ukrainians believe their country will defeat Russia, poll finds
An overwhelming majority of Ukrainians (88 per cent) say their country will defeat Russia in the current war, a survey commissioned by the International Republican Institute’s (IRI) found. The survey’s findings were released Wednesday.
“Ukrainians continue to believe in the current military campaign and are confident that they can achieve a victory over Russia,” said Stephen Nix, Senior Director for Eurasia at IRI.
The share that said they do not believe Ukraine will win increased from eight per cent in February 2024 to 10 per cent in September 2024. The largest such group, 11 per cent, was in the country’s east.
Thirty-three per cent of Ukrainians say that Ukraine will defeat Russia in one or two years. The share of those who believe the war will end in less than a year grew to 31 per cent from 26 per cent in February. Nine per cent of Ukrainians say it will happen five years from now and four per cent say the war will never end.
The survey was conducted by the Sociological Group Rating on behalf of IRI’s Center for Insights in Survey Research in government-controlled Ukraine between September 27 and October 1 through computer-assisted telephone interviews (CATI) based on a random sample of mobile telephone numbers. The total sample consists of 2,000 Ukrainians ages 18 and older. The margin of error at the 95 percent confidence level does not exceed +/-2.2 percentage points.