UKRAINE ASSESSES DAMAGE WHILE RUSSIA DOES NOT STOP

On October 10 alone, around 200 Russian air- and sea-based cruise missiles as well as a number of suicide drones struck Ukraine. In total, seventy targets were hit by Russian forces, including military and energy infrastructure facilities, as well as decision making centers in the capital. This was the first such destructive attack on Ukraine since February. The high-precision strikes all around the country resulted in deaths of 12 people, including at least one high-ranking Ukrainian official involved in operations against Russia and persecution of pro-Russian citizens. The number of victims is comparable to daily deaths of civilians in Donetsk alone. In one day, about 20 thermal power plants and substations in Ukraine were damaged. So far, some regions of the country remain cut off from electricity supply. However, not a single blow was inflicted on strategic facilities with a high voltage of 750 kV neither nuclear nor hydro power plants. Thus, the attack was not aimed at the destruction of the Ukrainian energy system, but at causing limited damage to it. In turn, Ukraine will stop exporting electricity to Europe in order to stabilize its own energy system. On October 11, Russian strikes continued. Russian long-range missiles and suicide drones hit targeted facilities in different regions on Ukraine, including Vinnytsa, Rovno, Zaporozhie, Odessa, Nikolaev and others. The eastern part of the country was mainly affected. Russian forces are targeting military and railway facilities in the Ukrainian rear in order to disrupt the supply to Ukrainian troops on the front line. According to the Office of Ukrainian President, US President Biden has promised to transfer modern air defense systems to Kiev. Washington risks suffering significant reputational losses in the global arms trade market if Russian missiles hit modern air defense systems in Ukraine. It is supposed that the US may provide Kiev with outdated NATO-made systems. So far, Washington is yet to officially announce this new gift to Ukraine. Meanwhile, the Armed Forces of Ukraine did not stop shelling the regions that have recently entered into the Russian Federation, including with foreign weapons. Over the past day, more than 250 shells hit the settlements in the DPR, killing at least one woman and wounding dozens of other civilians. The town of Stakhanov in the LPR was again shelled with US-made HIMARS MLRS. Dozens of Ukrainian missiles were intercepted by air defense means in the southern regions. Ukrainian forces again struck the Antonovsky Bridge with HIMARS but failed to damage it. Three villages in the Russian Belgorod region and one in the Kursk region also came under fire. At least one woman was killed. On the evening of October 11, Ukrainians targeted Crimea with an UAV. It was intercepted by the Russian air defense forces over the town of Dzhankoy but the wreckage fell in the residential area and wounded an 11-year old girl.