The Russian Aerospace Forces continue to launch missile and drone attacks on Ukraine’s infrastructure. On the night of September 8, an attack was carried out using combat drones of the Shahed 136/131 type, headed towards the Odessa region. Missile defense forces and fighter aircraft managed to destroy 16 out of 20 drones over Odessa and the neighboring Mykolaiv region. Analysis of the wreckage of the downed drones indicates the presence of Russian-made components, indicating that the drones are either manufactured or assembled in Russia. Thus, attacks on Ukraine’s infrastructure will persist, and the skies over every Ukrainian city must be reliably defended.
On the morning of September 8, Russia committed another war crime in Ukraine. As a result of a missile strike on Kryvyi Rig, one death and over 40 injuries are known. Three administrative buildings and seven residential buildings, including a multi-story building, were damaged. Typically, the most destructive attacks are carried out by the Russian Aerospace Forces in border and frontline cities of Ukraine, such as Kharkiv, Sumy, Kostyantynivka, Kramatorsk, Dnipro, Kryvyi Rig, Zaporizhzhia, and others. Due to the short launch distance of missiles, missile defense systems cannot always intercept them, especially in the case of ballistic missiles. Therefore, Putin aims to inflict maximum casualties among Ukrainian civilians.
It is expected that before the arrival of winter, the Russian army will intensify missile and drone attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, as it did in the previous autumn-winter period. At that time, the Russian Aerospace Forces used a wide range of missiles, including cruise and ballistic missiles. So-called «anti-ship» missiles, such as the «X-22,» were used, known for their immense destructive power and a permissible error in target accuracy of 600 meters; the use of such missiles within populated areas constitutes a war crime. Consequently, missile terror by Russia underscores the need to supply advanced missile defense systems to the Armed Forces of Ukraine, as well as samples of anti-aircraft missile systems capable of operating autonomously with modern radar and computerized control systems.
In the conditions of the exhaustion of the Russian army and the inability to seize strategic initiative on the battlefield, the Kremlin views missile terror against Ukrainian cities as an intermediate result of the war and continues to produce missiles. Despite sanctions imposed by the West, Russia continues to import necessary components for its military-industrial complex through third countries – strict sanctions against any country assisting Russia in circumventing such restrictions and killing Ukrainians are a necessary step. Ongoing missile and drone attacks in Ukraine represent a combination of terror and war crimes, emphasizing the criminal nature of Putin’s Russia and providing a compelling argument in favor of supplying missile defense systems – a guarantee of saving the lives of thousands of Ukrainians before the onset of winter.