Ukraine claims to shoot down several Russian missiles

Ukraine crisis

Ukraine said on October 11 that it had shot down several Russian cruise missiles, hours before leaders of the Group of 7 nations held an emergency virtual meeting to discuss Russia’s broad aerial assault across Ukraine that killed at least 19 people Monday.

The Russian strikes, in retaliation for an attack on a bridge linking Russia and occupied Crimea, did not appear to seriously damage the Ukrainian military’s ability to wage war, analysts said. Moscow’s goal seemed instead to be to knock out critical infrastructure, plunging cities into darkness and depriving Ukrainians of light and heat as winter approaches.

On Tuesday morning, Ukrainians took shelter underground after air raid sirens blared again nationwide and the country’s emergency ministry warned of “a high probability of rocket attacks” throughout the day. By the early afternoon, the intensity of strikes did not appear to be as severe as on Monday.

A dozen rockets hit the southern city of Zaporizhzhia on Tuesday, killing at least five people and hitting a school, medical facility and car dealership, local officials said. An energy facility in the Lviv region was also hit.

Here are the latest developments:

— President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine joined the G-7 meeting and addressed the leaders at the start of their virtual summit. Ukraine on Tuesday raised the death toll in the previous day’s strikes to 19, with more than 100 people wounded.

— Zelenskyy said in his nightly address that electricity had been mostly or fully restored in several regions. He asked Ukrainians to limit their energy consumption from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. to avoid overloading the system.

— Protesters gathered Monday in several European cities, including Prague, Rome, Vienna and Warsaw, Poland, to condemn Russia’s strikes and show support for Ukraine.

— At an emergency special session Monday, the U.N. General Assembly debated a resolution condemning Russia’s illegal annexation of parts of eastern and southern Ukraine. A vote on the resolution is expected this week.

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