Russia carried out dozens of air strikes against Ukraine during the night of October 6-7, as Ukraine’s military reported continued slow progress in its ongoing counteroffensive.
Ukraine’s General Staff said during its daily briefing that its forces were making slow progress in the areas of Melitopol in the south and Bakhmut in the east.
A spokesman for Ukraine’s eastern group of forces told RFE/RL on October 6 that Kyiv’s forces had gained “up to 400 meters” of territory in the greater Bakhmut area and was holding its new positions against heavy Russian assaults.
“I cannot give details because the enemy is using this information,” spokesman Ilya Yevlash said. “We have to get a foothold and only then can we talk about it more openly.”
Four civilians were reported injured in the Black Sea port city of Odesa as a result of an overnight missile attack that struck residential buildings and a granary. The missiles were launched from a coastal missile complex in the Russia-occupied Ukrainian region of Crimea, Ukraine’s military said.
Air-raid alerts were issued overnight in the Kharkiv, Poltava, Chernihiv, and Sumy regions.
Authorities in Moscow have been dismantling a spontaneous memorial to the dozens of civilian victims of a suspected Russian attack on October 5 a village in the northeastern Kharkiv region. Muscovites have been bringing yellow and blue flowers and ribbons to a monument to Ukrainian poet Lesya Ukrayinka, with communal workers removing them almost immediately.
There have been no reports of arrests.
The Russian Defense Ministry reported on October 7 that a Ukrainian drone had been shot down in an area of Moscow without causing any damage.
Russia's Defense Ministry subsequently said late on October 7 that air-defense systems in Crimea had "detected and destroyed" two Ukrainian S-200 antiaircraft missiles that had been repurposed for ground attacks.
Ukrainian public broadcaster Suspilne quoted a resident as saying two explosions were heard near Yevtaporiya in western Crimea.
The ministry also said a Ukrainian drone attack had been repulsed off the coast of occupied Crimea near the port city of Sevastopol.
RFE/RL is not able to independently verify reports from areas of heavy fighting.
