Ukraine war briefing: Russia strikes Kyiv hours before truce begins in war-ravaged city Oleshky
Russian attacks on Kyiv killed one person and wounded eight hours before a truce was due to begin in the war-ravaged city of Oleshky.
Russian strikes on Kyiv killed one person and wounded eight, with mayor Vitali Klitschko confirming medical facilities and an intensive care unit had been damaged in the late Monday attack. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy reported a ballistic missile had struck a university campus in the Ukrainian capital.
The missiles hit very crowded areas, and there is not a single military facility nearby. This was a strike directly on the city, on its infrastructure.
Oleshky truce begins
The strikes came hours before a truce in the Russian-occupied city of Oleshky was due to start at 3am local time (0100 GMT). The city in Ukraine's southern Kherson region has faced dire shortages of food, water and medicine since being seized by Russian forces in 2022.
Neither Russia, Ukraine nor the US has specified who would monitor the truce or provide details about the humanitarian operation. The Russian defense ministry said it would halt fire in the "Kherson sector" for the ceasefire's duration, while Ukraine has accused Russia of blocking residents from leaving.
US missile supplies delayed
Before the latest strikes, Zelenskyy highlighted Ukraine was still waiting for US defense secretary Pete Hegseth to sign off on critical missile supplies for Patriots and NASAMS systems. "We have been waiting for nearly a month for Mr Hegseth to sign off on missiles," he said.
Europe faces hybrid attacks
Romania reported a network "coordinated" from Russia was involved in starting a fire near an arms factory in Brasov on September 14. Two Belarusians and a Ukrainian were involved, with two remanded in custody in Germany while preparing similar offenses, and the third at large in Poland.
The attack follows a string of similar incidents in Europe, with Nato and the EU reporting a "hybrid" campaign by Russia aimed at undermining Western support for Ukraine. Over the past three weeks, at least eight cargo ships have been hit off Romania and Bulgaria, with 34 sailors reported dead or missing.
New drone technology
Ukraine's military has begun using specialized aerial rescue drones to evacuate wounded soldiers. The StarGate drone, a six-rotor aircraft with an evacuation capsule, carried two troops to safety near the Russian border in its first operations, reducing rescue times from hours to minutes.
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