Ukraine’s air defense forces shoot down 44 out of 50 Russian cruise missiles, but infrastructure again hit
Debris of a Russian missile (Photo:t.me/andrii_nebytov)
Ukrainian air defenses forces shot down 44 of 50 Russian cruise missiles launched at Ukraine early on Oct. 31, but some missiles impacted on critical civilian infrastructure, knocking out power and water supplies across the country.
Russia fired off several waves of missile attacks aimed at critical infrastructure all over Ukraine. The three-hour long raid started at 7.00 a.m. and prompted air raid alerts across the entire country, except Ukraine’s Russian-occupied Crimean Peninsula.
More than fifty Kh-101/Kh-555 cruise missiles were launched from Tu-95/Tu-160 strategic missile-carrying aircraft from the north of the Caspian Sea and from Rostov Oblast’s Volgodonsk district, the Ukrainian Air Force said in a post on the Telegram messenger.
In total, 44 cruise missiles were destroyed by Ukraine’s air defenses – 18 were shot down by the Center Air Command, 12 by the South Air Command, nine by the East Air Command, and five by the West Air Command.
Several explosions rocked the capital Kyiv at about 8.00 a.m. Missile attacks were also reported in the cities of Kharkiv and Zaporizhzhya, as well as towns in Cherkasy, Kyiv, and Kirovohrad oblasts.
In many areas, Ukrainian air defense forces were heard shooting down Russian missiles.
Part of Kyiv was reported to be without power and water supplies, though power was restored to some areas of the capital about an hour after the attack.
The attack came after Ukraine apparently launched an attack on Russian warships in the Russian-occupied city of Sevastopol in Ukraine’s Crimea on Oct. 29.
At least two warships of the Russian Black Sea Fleet were reported to have been damaged in the raid, which appears to have been carried out with an innovative new Ukrainian weapon – remote control unmanned surface vessels, which carry an explosive payload.
Shortly after that attack, Russia said it would not continue cooperating in a United Nations and Turkish-brokered deal that secured safe passage for ships exporting Ukrainian grain from three Ukrainian Black Sea ports.
Nevertheless, Ukraine the United Nations and Turkey said they were pressing ahead with the agreement, and scheduled 16 ships to depart Ukrainian ports with grain shipments.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said that the latest Russian missile attack on the country should not be seen as a “response” – presumably to Ukraine’s attack on the Black Sea fleet two days earlier.
“Don’t justify these attacks by calling them a ‘response’.” Kuleba said in a post on Twitter.
“Russia does this because it still has the missiles and the will to kill Ukrainians.
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