Ukraine war briefing: Nine killed and dozens wounded in Russian strikes as Kyiv braces for harsh winter

Zelenskyy says ‘Russia wants to kill the Ukrainian economy’ as Moscow steps up attacks on infrastructure. What we know on day 1,663 Russian airstrikes killed nine people, injured dozens and damaged buildings and infrastructure across Ukraine on Saturday, as Kyiv braces for a “very difficult” winter amid intensified attacks on the country. The civilian death toll has risen sharply in Ukraine over the past two months as Russia steps up attacks on power plants and other infrastructure.

Ukraine has hit energy facilities and warehouses in distant parts of Russia, and both sides have targeted each other’s shipping. Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, writing on Telegram, said Russia had deployed nearly 500 drones against Ukrainian targets since early morning.

“Basically, the Russians have expanded the war away from the front, where they have no success, into the economy, and their tactics are as basic as it gets: destroying every site that could help people cope with the conditions of war,” he wrote. “Russia wants to kill the Ukrainian economy and break our resistance.”

The city council in Kramatorsk , one of Ukraine’s frontline “fortress cities” that Russia wants to capture, said Russian forces attacked private cars, killing three people in three incidents over a 90-minute period . Four people were injured. “These are not military targets,” the council said. “They are ordinary civilian cars. People were going about their business.” The governor of Ukraine’s...

Read the original report at The Guardian.