Zelensky: Russia Fired 16 Ballistic Missiles, 280 Drones

Russia attacked Ukraine with 16 ballistic missiles overnight on October 27, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on social media, adding that more than 280 drones were launched as well.

Casualties and targets

"There are casualties, there are hits in Kyiv, including on the South Bridge. This is a serious escalation in the Russian operation against our logistics," Zelensky wrote. He said strikes also hit the Kyiv, Vinnytsia, Zaporizhzhia, Dnipropetrovsk, Kharkiv, Odesa, Chernihiv, Sumy, Donetsk, Kherson and Chernivtsi regions. "Almost everywhere the Russian targets were energy, logistics and ordinary urban infrastructure."

According to the president, 12 people were injured when Russia struck a university campus and the surrounding area on Monday evening; five of them were students and university staff. While emergency services were helping people and dealing with the consequences of the first strike, he said, the Russians used ballistic missiles again.

Interceptor delays

Zelensky stressed that "artificial and prolonged delays in supplying interceptor packages for Patriots and NASAMS, which unfortunately have been happening lately, directly help Russia achieve the goals of its terrorist campaign."

The Air Force reported that overnight Russia used Iskander-M/S-400 ballistic missiles, 280 Shahed-type strike drones, 69 of them jet-powered, Gerbera and Parodiya decoy drones. By 9:00 the air defence had downed or suppressed 257 targets: two Iskander-M/S-400 ballistic missiles and 255 drones.

On October 26 Zelensky said Ukraine had been waiting almost a month for US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's signature on missiles for the Patriot and NASAMS air defence systems. More on the war in our World section.