A Russian strike on an industrial plant in Ukraine's second-largest city, Kharkiv, killed at least two people and injured more than 30, local officials reported on October 8, as NATO's new chief warned that Ukraine could be facing its roughest winter since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022.
"NATO must and will do more to help Ukraine," Mark Rutte told a Brussels news conference on October 8 with Finnish President Alexander Stubb, the head of state of the alliance’s newest member.
"The more military support we give, the faster this war will end," Rutte said.
Ukraine "could be facing its toughest winter" since hostilities began, Rutte added.
Rutte said he would press for additional military aid for Ukraine at the October 12 Defense Contact Group meeting in Ramstein, Germany.
Rutte, a former Dutch prime minister, replaced Jens Stoltenberg of Norway on October 1 as secretary-general of the Western military alliance. Ukraine is not a member of NATO, but most of the organization's members have supported Kyiv in its fight against Russian aggression.
Meanwhile, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Ukrainian forces were maintaining pressure on Russian troops in Russia's Kursk region, the site of Kyiv’s surprise military incursion in August.
Ukrainian forces reportedly captured around 1,300 square kilometers of Russian territory in the Kursk region. Though the pace of the incursion has slowed, Zelenskiy said it had "greatly helped" Kyiv to secure the latest military support packages from the West.
"Fighting is now going on in Kursk region for a third month, and we are maintaining the necessary pressure on Russia in this sector," Zelenskiy said in his nightly video address.
Moscow on October 8 continued its relentless attacks on Ukrainian infrastructure and civilian targets.
Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov said on his Telegram channel that the search was continuing for people who may have remained under the rubble.
Russian military bloggers said the attack was carried out by an Iskander missile, while Ukrainian officials said the city was targeted by several strikes.
The Ukrainian Air Force said Russia used two Iskander missiles and 19 drones in an attack on the southern Odesa region, but its air defense systems shot down 18 of the Russian drones early on October 8.
In the southern Kherson region, one person was killed in an attack on the city of Antonivka, regional Governor Oleksandr Prokudin reported on October 8.
Meanwhile, Russia's Defense Ministry said its air defense systems repelled a Ukrainian drone attack early on October 8, shooting down 16 unmanned aerial vehicles.
Fourteen of the drones were shot down over the territory of the Belgorod region bordering Ukraine, and two other drones were destroyed off Russia's Black Sea coast, the ministry said in a message on Telegram.
However, Belgorod Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said on Telegram that Ukraine attacked nine districts in his region with 45 drones, wounding two people.
On October 7, Ukrainian drones reportedly struck a fuel depot in Feodosia, the largest such facility in occupied Crimea, triggering a huge fire.
The head of the Moscow-installed Feodosia administration, Igor Tkachenko, said that the fire was still burning on October 8, with social media pictures showing thick plumes of black smoke rising in the air.
Tkachenko said a total of 1,047 civilians had been evacuated from Feodosia due to the blaze.
