At least 10 civilians were killed in Russian missile, drone and glide-bomb attacks across Ukraine on Tuesday, Ukrainian officials said, as President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Moscow of using North Korean ballistic missiles and preparing for further military escalation.Zelenskyy said Russian forces used ballistic missiles supplied by North Korea in an overnight strike on Zaporizhzhia in southeastern Ukraine. Seven workers at a steel plant were killed and 21 others injured in the attack, according to the company operating the facility.Three more people, including a 15-year-old boy, were killed by Russian drones and artillery in the central Dnipropetrovsk region, officials said.The latest strikes came as Zelenskyy said North Korea was preparing to deploy additional troops to Russia.Moscow and Pyongyang have significantly expanded military cooperation since Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un signed a strategic partnership agreement in 2024, which includes a commitment to provide mutual assistance if either country faces aggression.North Korea has already sent thousands of troops and large quantities of weapons to support Russia’s war in Ukraine, according to Ukrainian officials and Western assessments.
Zelenskyy warns of further Russian escalation
Zelenskyy said Russia was increasing ballistic missile production while continuing to receive military support from North Korea.“Every step Russia takes — increasing ballistic missile production, bringing in North Korean equipment, preparing for mobilisation — all of this shows that Moscow is preparing not for peace, but for escalation,” he said on social media.Ukraine has warned that Russia is seeking to exploit its shortage of Patriot air-defence interceptors, which are among the systems capable of countering ballistic missiles.The Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank, said Ukraine’s shortage of Patriot interceptors could allow Russia to cause significant damage over the coming winter and potentially contribute to prolonging the war.The think tank also assessed that the Kremlin was unlikely to make meaningful compromises in negotiations as long as Russian President Vladimir Putin believed Moscow had a viable military path towards achieving its objectives.US-led diplomatic efforts to end the war have made little progress, while Washington’s attention has also been focused on the conflict involving Iran.
Russian strikes damage Kyiv children’s hospital, steel plant
Russian forces also struck Kyiv overnight. One strike hit the grounds of a children’s hospital, creating two craters and shattering windows, according to Ukraine’s State Emergency Service.Children and medical workers were sheltering underground and nobody was injured in the attack, officials said.Another strike started a fire at a warehouse in Kyiv that spread across around 1,200 square metres, emergency officials said.The Russian defence ministry said its forces had targeted “military industrial facilities and transport and logistics centers” in Kyiv and Zaporizhzhia using ground-based precision weapons. It claimed that civilian storage facilities containing drones in Kyiv and a metallurgical plant in Zaporizhzhia were among the targets.Ukraine’s air force said Russia used Zircon anti-ship missiles and Iskander ballistic missiles against Kyiv and Zaporizhzhia, along with 120 long-range attack drones.The air force did not provide its usual daily figure for the total number of missiles launched, and it was not immediately clear why.Metinvest, a major Ukrainian mining and metals company, said seven employees at its steel plant in Zaporizhzhia were killed while attempting to reach shelters after an incoming ballistic missile warning.The company said the attack damaged a blast furnace and other equipment, forcing the plant to halt operations.
Ukraine strikes Russian oil facilities
The escalation came alongside Ukrainian attacks on Russian territory.Russia’s defence ministry said its air defences intercepted nearly 400 Ukrainian drones over 14 regions and Crimea overnight.Ukraine’s General Staff said its forces also struck an oil refinery in Orsk in Russia’s Orenburg region, around 1,500 km from Ukraine. The refinery has an annual crude-processing capacity of about 44 million barrels and produces fuels including gasoline, diesel and aviation fuel. The extent of the damage was being assessed.Separately, Ukraine has stepped up attacks on Russian energy infrastructure in recent months, targeting oil refineries as part of efforts to put pressure on Moscow.In another attack, at least 12 people were killed and 39 injured in a Ukrainian drone strike on industrial and civilian targets in Nizhnekamsk in Russia’s Tatarstan region, according to the city’s mayor.The attack also hit the TANECO oil refinery, one of Russia’s major refining facilities. The region declared a period of mourning following the attack.
UN says more than 16,000 Ukrainian civilians remain detained
The United Nations meanwhile said more than 16,000 Ukrainian civilians detained by Russia during the war remained deprived of their liberty.Claudia Fuentes Julio, the UN assistant secretary-general for human rights, told an informal UN Security Council meeting that many detainees were being held incommunicado and on grounds that did not comply with international law.She also said “widespread and systematic torture and ill-treatment” of Ukrainian civilian detainees and prisoners of war by Russia was continuing, including sexual violence.The latest Russian strikes and Ukrainian attacks come as the war enters its fifth year, with diplomatic efforts to secure a settlement showing little progress and both sides continuing to expand their long-range strike capabilities.
