KYIV, Oct 19 (Reuters) – Ukraine received no advance warning from its partners of a Russian ballistic missile strike overnight, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Monday, adding that some vital deliveries from the United States were being delayed.
Moscow launched one of its broadest air assaults in months overnight, cutting power to more than half a million households and damaging energy infrastructure across Ukraine.
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Ten people were reported killed.
A Russian drone attack killed six people, including two children, in a park near Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, according to the regional governor, Oleh Syniehubov. Zelenskiy called the strike “an act of absolute barbarity”.
In all, Russia fired 16 ballistic missiles overnight at Kyiv and the surrounding region and more than 200 drones in attacks stretching from Kharkiv and Dnipro in the east to Odesa in the south and Volyn and Rivne in the west.
Two people were killed in Kyiv and the nearby region and two more in the industrial city of Kryvyi Rih, officials said.
HIGH TENSIONS
Tensions are running high between Zelenskiy and President Donald Trump’s administration over US support for Ukraine and Washington’s approach to Russia.
“Another Russian ballistic missile attack came in several waves overnight, and once again, there was no early warning from our partners,” Zelenskiy said on the Telegram app.
“When deliveries of missiles for Ukraine’s air defence are blocked while Russia is granted relief or delays in sanctions, this is, unfortunately, a denial of reality on the part of our partners.”
Zelenskiy later said he had discussed speeding up supplies of the Patriot system, vital to countering Russian ballistic missiles, with representatives of the US company Lockheed Martin.
“It is their Patriot systems and F-16 planes that play an important role in defending against Russian ballistic missiles and jet-powered drones. The company is now boosting production of ballistic interceptors. We are hoping that we will be able to buy some of them to protect more lives,” Zelenskiy said on Telegram.
