Russian strikes kill seven; Zelensky vows winter response

Russian strikes across Ukraine killed at least seven people Wednesday, including two in Kyiv, as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told the UN General Assembly that Ukraine would hit Russian heating and energy facilities this winter.

Kyiv officials said more than 40 people were wounded in strikes on gas stations, offices, a college building, businesses and the rail network. They said internet service was cut to about 100,000 households.

Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga accused Russia of putting civilian lives at risk by targeting data centres that provide public information on incoming missiles and drones.

In Oleksandrivka, west of Kramatorsk in the eastern Donbas region, at least four people were killed, including a young child, when a residential building was hit. In Odesa, regional head Oleg Kiper said the captain of a cargo ship was killed in a Russian attack. Kiper said the vessel was sailing under the flag of Antigua and Barbuda.

Zelensky told the General Assembly that Ukraine faced a harsh winter and would respond. “We will have no choice but to make it painful for Russia too,” he said.

Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told the UN Security Council there would be no “pause” in the war. He accused Europe of seeking a halt in fighting to “pump the Kyiv regime with weapons.”

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Washington was pushing both sides to end attacks on energy targets. US President Donald Trump invited Russian President Vladimir Putin to attend the G20 summit in Miami in December.

AFP analysis of data from the ACLED conflict monitor found that the Kyiv region recorded 118 Russian strike incidents in the first 18 days of September, more than in any full month since the start of the war except March 2022, when 174 incidents were recorded.

Turkey’s IMEAK chamber of shipping said at least 226 civilian and commercial vessels have been hit on the Black Sea since the start of the conflict, including 163 in the first eight months of this year. Turkey has called on both Russia and Ukraine to halt attacks on civilian ships.

Russia’s defence ministry said its latest attacks in the Kyiv region hit a warehouse and a business linked to military drone production. It said similar sites were hit in the Odesa area, as well as a vessel delivering military cargo.