Russia Launches Massive Assault on Ukraine on Putin's Birthday... Zelensky: "They Destroyed Homes as if Giving Putin a Birthday Present"

Attacks Focus on Energy Infrastructure
Civilian Casualties Mount, Including in Apartment Strike

Yonhap News Agency

Russia is intensifying its offensive against Ukraine, relying on ballistic missiles and high-speed jet-powered drones. As the scope of its attacks expands beyond energy facilities to include urban bridges, Ukraine is struggling to respond because of a shortage of air defenses.

According to AFP and other foreign media reports on October 7 local time, Russian forces attacked Kyiv and other parts of Ukraine from early that morning, deploying 70 missiles and jet-powered Shahed drones.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on social media that energy infrastructure was the main target of the attacks and condemned them as "one of the most despicable attacks." Noting that the day marked Russian President Vladimir Putin's 74th birthday, he also said, "As if giving Putin a birthday present, they destroyed residential buildings."

Casualties were also reported in a series of attacks. In Kyiv's Darnytskyi district, a ballistic missile attack sparked a fire that killed two people. In Chernihiv in the north, a missile struck a five-story apartment building, killing at least five people and injuring more than 20. Deaths were also reported in Dnipro, Zaporizhzhia, and Oleksandriia.

Russia has recently expanded its attacks from energy facilities to urban transport networks. Earlier this month, a bridge over the Dnipro River in Kyiv was hit by drones at least six times, disrupting vehicle traffic on five of the city's six bridges. Ukrainian authorities also installed large protective nets on both sides of the North Bridge to block drones.

As attacks on energy facilities continue, rolling blackouts have also been implemented in Kyiv to spread out electricity demand. Russia denies targeting civilian facilities and says it is striking military-related sites. Russia's Defense Ministry said that day that it had struck, among other targets, a company in Kyiv that assembles Flamingo missiles.

Ukraine does not have sufficient air defense capacity. Air defense systems such as Patriot, which are needed to intercept ballistic missiles, have been in short supply worldwide since the war with Iran broke out in February. Ukraine has even deployed F-16 fighter jets against Russia's jet-powered drones, which are up to three times faster than conventional drones, but there are limits to using fighter jets to intercept individually the large numbers of drones arriving every day.

Ukraine is responding by directly attacking Russian energy facilities. The Ukrainian military said that day that it had struck four sites in total, including two oil facilities in Russia's Perm, Samara, and Astrakhan regions. President Zelensky released video footage of the strikes and called them a "justified response" to Russia's attacks.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.