By The Epoch Times | Created at 2026-10-07 22:17:08 | Updated at 2026-10-07 23:32:37
1 hour ago
Russian missiles and drones targeting Ukraine killed more than 25 people and injured 100, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Oct. 7.
The attack mainly centered on Pryluky, about 84 miles northeast of Kyiv and home to Ukraine’s largest airfield.
Zelenskyy said a direct hit by a Kh-101 missile on a residential building killed 19 people, including five children. One of the children was 1 year old, he said.
Fifteen people were rescued, including one child, according to Zelenskyy.
“There are still people who have not yet been accounted for,” Zelenskyy said in a post on X.
The attack came hours after Russian air defenses intercepted nearly 900 Ukrainian drones overnight Tuesday in multiple regions of the country, including the occupied Crimean Peninsula and the Sea of Azov, according to the Russian Defense Ministry in Moscow.
Ukraine attacked four Russian targets Tuesday, including two oil facilities and a training ground in the Perm, Samara, and Astrakhan regions. A target in the Black Sea was also struck, Zelenskyy said Wednesday.
Ukraine has regularly targeted Russian oil refineries and storage depots, claiming it has disabled 51 percent of Russia’s oil refining capacity. The numbers were disputed by Russian President Vladimir Putin, who said the attacks had only taken out 1 percent of the country’s gross domestic product.
Ukraine knew about Russia’s planned attack, which coincided with Putin’s 74th birthday. Zelenskyy warned Ukrainians the day before to prepare for missile strikes after intelligence services concluded that Russia was building up for a “massive” strike.
Zelenskyy blamed Wednesday’s attack on Europe’s loosening of sanctions against Russia. He also said war was in Putin’s nature, and the Ukraine conflict was a rehearsal for what Russia wanted to do in Europe and beyond.
The Ukrainian leader then asked for more military equipment and munitions.
“The threat is there every day, and every day, our air defense batteries need to have missiles ready,” Zelenskyy said. “We strongly count on prompt deliveries from our partners.”
Ambassador-at-Large for the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Rodion Miroshnik said Wednesday that Ukraine’s attacks on Oleshky and the Oleshky District resulted in the deaths of two civilians and injuries to 11 others.
Rescue workers put out a fire on ambulances after a Russian strike on a medical facility in Kramatorsk, Ukraine, in a photo provided by the Ukranian Emergency Services on Oct. 6, 2026. Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP
“The [Kyiv] regime continues its ‘drone siege’ of the city, remotely lays mines on roads and footpaths, and shells the [Oleshky-Radensk] ‘road of death,’” Miroshnik said in a social media message. “Yet at international forums, [Kyiv’s] representatives continue to play on the sympathies of compassionate Europeans by claiming to care about the situation in [Oleshky].”
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov spoke to reporters Wednesday in Turkmenistan about the status of negotiations between Russia and Ukraine, facilitated by the United States.
Russia plans to hold elections before negotiating on terms, place, agenda, and other details, but those plans have been disrupted by Ukraine’s attacks on polling stations, Lavrov said.
Russia held its first State Duma elections since the start of its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, electing all 450 seats in its lower legislative house, from Sept. 18 to 20.
Locals and rescuers carry an injured man from a residential building destroyed in a Russian missile strike on Pryluky, Ukraine, Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2026. AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka
“The Kyiv regime has started doing everything to try to disrupt the elections to the State Duma,” Lavrov said. “Throughout all three days, an unprecedented number of terrorist attacks on civilian targets were carried out, including polling stations.”
Several people were injured, and one person was killed, Lavrov said.
The minister said Russia accepted proposals made by the United States in August 2025 during a summit with Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump in Alaska. The summit ended without an immediate ceasefire agreement.
