Ukraine Warupdated 2h ago3 min read
Russia Hits American Businesses With Drones And Missiles, Zelensky Says White House Stays Silent
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Ukraine received no early warning from partners about five missiles striking Kyiv. Russian strikes hit energy facilities and civilian infrastructure in Ukraine, including American-connected targets.
11 outlets told this the same way.
Missiles hit American-linked sites
Russia’s strikes on facilities tied to American corporations in Ukraine have drawn criticism from the American Chamber of Commerce in Ukraine, where Andy Hunder said Russian attacks were “a direct hit with drones and missiles, and they keep hitting them.” Hunder told CNN that the strikes were “sending a message that they’re targeting American business,” and he added that “We’re not seeing any response from the White House.” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said a drone strike on a Coca-Cola factory outside Kyiv was “a clear signal from Russia to America,” and he said the Russians were burning it down with “Shaheds.”
McDonald’s Ukraine confirmed that “a warehouse operated by one of our logistics partners in the Kyiv region was damaged in a drone attack on 25 September,” and Zelensky said an “attack drone” destroyed a warehouse used by McDonald’s later that month. Zelensky also said Russia was “constantly expanding” its escalation operation, targeting “American and other businesses, data centers, internet providers” and “ordinary life in and of itself.”
Energy ceasefire disputed
Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukraine received no early warning from partners about a Russian ballistic missile strike on Kyiv that hit civilian infrastructure, and he wrote that “This is precisely what helps prevent people from being killed.” Zelensky characterized the barrage as “particularly vile,” and he emphasized that receiving intelligence from partners on such attacks “helps save lives, and this is one of the most critical issues.” Trump insisted Monday that an energy ceasefire was in place, and he told reporters, “Well, they agreed,” while Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said only, “Contacts are ongoing.”
Zelensky told the Warsaw Security Forum via videolink that “If Russia does not agree to an energy ceasefire, we will respond,” and he said any ceasefire must apply “in reality, not just on Truth Social.” Zelensky said Moscow struck Ukraine’s power plants and gas facilities after Trump posted that a deal had been reached, and he said, “These are absolutely clear signals that they have no intention of refraining from strikes on Ukraine.”
Yandex outages ripple outward
Ukrainian drones struck three Yandex facilities in Russia, and Russian users reported outages across Yandex’s services after the strikes, with Central Asian users of Yandex Go also reporting trouble booking rides and ordering food. The Diplomat said Yandex customers in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan began reporting trouble after the October 11 strike on a data center east of Moscow in Vladimir, and Yandex’s press services acknowledged technical issues while teams worked to restore services. RFE/RL reported that Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on October 13 that Yandex was “facing difficulties, and of course the matter is being discussed by the government,” and he said Yandex was taking “urgent steps to address the consequences of the attack.”
The Diplomat said Kazakhstan’s Agency for the Protection and Development of Competition reportedly issued a warning to inDrive after prices spiked during the Yandex outage, and it said in some cases the cost of rides tripled. RFE/RL said the attacks highlighted a vulnerability that tech industry operators were scrambling to address, and it quoted Yandex’s statement that “Data centers are the iron heart of Yandex.”