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Zaporizhzhia hits, tolls diverge
Russian attacks across Ukraine killed at least 12 people overnight and wounded dozens, Kyiv said, as President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Moscow of launching North Korean missiles in the raid.
“Russian attacks across Ukraine killed at least 12 people overnight and wounded dozens”
Zelenskyy said the southeastern city of Zaporizhzhia was worst hit, with at least six people killed and at least 19 wounded, and he said all those killed were employees of the Zaporizhstal steel plant.
The AP reported that Russia attacked Ukrainian cities with missiles, drones and glide bombs Tuesday, killing at least 10 civilians, and said a company in Zaporizhzhia put the steel-plant toll at seven workers killed and 21 injured.
In the capital Kyiv, Zelenskyy said an infectious diseases hospital was hit, while strikes on Kherson and Kharkiv caused power outages, and the AP said a strike hit the grounds of a children’s hospital but nobody was hurt.
Zelenskyy also warned on social media that “Every step Russia takes – increasing ballistic missile production, bringing in North Korean equipment, preparing for mobilisation – all of this shows that Moscow is preparing not for peace, but for escalation,” as the attacks targeted multiple regions including Dnipropetrovsk and Donetsk.
Zelenskyy’s claims and official responses
Zelenskyy framed the strikes as part of a broader escalation, saying the city was struck with North Korean ballistic missiles, Zircons, and guided aerial bombs, and he called it “a vicious attack, calculated to inflict maximum damage specifically on civilian infrastructure.”
The BBC said Ukraine’s president accused Moscow of using North Korean missiles, and it quoted Zelenskyy saying “for the first time” Russia “cannot wage war without reinforcements from North Korea”.
The AP reported that Zelenskyy said Russian forces used ballistic missiles supplied by North Korea in an overnight attack on Zaporizhzhia, and it added that Ukraine’s air force did not say in its daily report how many missiles Russia launched overnight.
In Kyiv, the AP said children and medical workers were in bomb shelters and nobody was hurt after a strike hit the grounds of a children’s hospital, while the BBC said local officials later said a children’s hospital was damaged but there were no injuries as staff and patients were sheltering.
The BBC also noted that Zelenskyy “has not presented any evidence” for his claims, even as it described his Monday video address hailing a “very significant achievement” from a Ukrainian air strike on a Russian petrochemical plant in western Siberia.
Patriot shortages and next moves
Zelenskyy linked the attacks to Ukraine’s air-defense constraints, saying Russia was aiming to exploit Kyiv’s critical shortage of Patriot air defense interceptors, and the AP said the shortage could allow Russia to cause “very serious damage to Ukraine over the coming winter.”
““very serious damage to Ukraine over the coming winter and will therefore contribute to delaying meaningful negotiations and protracting the war,””
The AP reported that Ukraine says Russia is scaling up its production of ballistic missiles and preparing to recruit more troops for a front line that stretches 1,250 kilometers (775 miles) along eastern and southern Ukraine.
In a separate thread of consequences, the AP said Russia’s highest court on Monday ordered that Yabloko, the only political party opposing the war, be excluded from the ballot in the Sept. 18-20 parliamentary election.
The BBC described how Zelenskyy warned over the weekend that as many as 50,000 North Korean soldiers were being sent to fight with Russian forces, and it said some 11,000 North Korean soldiers were deployed to help Moscow push Ukrainian troops out of the western Russian region of Kursk following their cross-border incursion in August 2024.
Across the conflict’s logistics and civilian infrastructure, the AP said Russia’s Defense Ministry claimed its overnight strikes hit “military-industrial facilities and transport and logistics centres” in Kyiv and Zaporizhzhia, while Zelenskyy urged allies to respond as he said “Every step Russia takes” signals preparation for escalation.
