Russian strikes across Ukraine leave four dead and dozens wounded

Russian strikes across Ukraine over the past day have left four people dead and dozens wounded, Ukrainian media reports.

The Ukrainian Air Force posted on the social media platform Telegram that Russia fired ballistic and guided-air missiles upon several areas, including the Sumy, Kharkiv and Kyiv regions, on Monday.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy acknowledged the attacks on X, stating air defences destroyed more than 50 Russian-launched Shahed drones fired upon a dozen targets.

“Over the course of this week, the enemy has used about 20 missiles of various types, more than 800 guided aerial bombs, and nearly 400 strike UAVs of various types,” Zelenskyy said in the post.

“This daily aerial terror can be stopped.”

The Ukrainian leader also mentioned in the post he would pursue his country’s request for long-range weapons capabilities — aimed at firing deep within Russian territory — at a high-level military meeting scheduled for next week in Ramstein.

On 12 October, the Ukraine Defence Contact Group is expected to discuss several key issues, such as the “manning of brigades” and weapons and equipment supply for soldiers, Zelenskyy said in a statement.

Meanwhile, Russian media confirmed Kyiv fired missile strikes on an oil depot in Russian-occupied Crimea. Firefighters are currently battling a blaze that broke out at the site following the attack, according to the report.

Ukrainian Armed Forces wrote on Telegram that the strike — on the largest oil depot in the region — was used to strategically hit fuel used by Moscow.

“Measures to undermine the military and economic potential of the Russian Federation continue,” the Telegram post states.

Russian President Vladimir Putin illegally annexed the Ukrainian territory of Crimea in 2014 — a precursor to the Kremlin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in early 2022.

Since then, Moscow has staged “elections” in the Russian-occupied region, prompting outrage from Brussels, which denounced the contest as “null and void” as “Crimea is Ukraine”.