At least eight people were killed and several wounded in Russian strikes on the Ukrainian regions of Kherson, Zaporizhzhya, and Sumy on October 1 as the embattled country marked Defenders Day amid an increasingly difficult situation on the battlefield in the east, where Moscow's grinding offensive is making incremental progress.
"A Russian strike on Kherson, right in the city center. As of now, 6 deaths have been confirmed," President Volodymyr Zelenskiy wrote on X, adding that six more people were wounded.
The deaths occurred when Russian projectiles struck a marketplace in downtown Kherson, while the other six were wounded in a separate strike on a bus stop in the southern city, regional Governor Oleksandr Prokudin said on Telegram.
Kherson city was liberated by Ukrainian troops in November 2022, forcing Russian soldiers to retreat eastward across the Dnieper River. But Russia continued to pound Kherson on a regular basis from across the river, leaving numerous civilian casualties as well as damaging civilian and energy infrastructure.
In Zaporizhzhya, Russia attacked apartment buildings and infrastructure with glide bombs, killing one person and wounding six, regional Governor Ivan Fedorov said.
Meanwhile, Ukraine's Energy Ministry reported on October 1 that Russian troops attacked the main substation and cut off a power line to the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant -- Europe's largest -- which was on the verge of a blackout.
In Sumy, a northeastern region that borders Russia, air strikes killed a woman and wounded two men in the Esman community, the regional prosecutor's office reported.
Across Ukraine, at 9 a.m. local time a minute of silence was held in memory of all Ukrainians who have given their lives defending the independence of their country.
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In a message on Telegram, Ukraine's top military commander, General Oleksandr Syrskiy, congratulated the Ukrainian soldiers, whom he called "indomitable warriors," who took on the invading Russian forces and over the past 2 1/2 years "gave battle to the so-called 'second army of the world' and stopped it" in its tracks.
Defense Minister Rustem Umerov also issued a statement thanking every Ukrainian soldier for their unity, courage, and resilience.
"We know what we are fighting for: for our home, for our relatives who dream of a peaceful sky. For cities and villages waiting for liberation. For future generations who will live on their land without fear. And for the memory of those who over the centuries gave their lives for our freedom. Eternal honor to the sons and daughters of Ukraine, who sacrificed their lives for our state," Umerov said in his address.
Separately, Umerov announced the dismissal of three of his deputies. He said on social media he had asked the government to relieve Stanislav Haider, Oleksandr Serhiy and Yuriy Dzhygyr of their duties as deputy defense ministers, and Lyudmyla Darahan as ministry secretary.
"I have set the task of completing the process of cleansing the system of procurement in close cooperation with law enforcement and anti-corruption authorities," Umerov said.
October 1 was declared Defenders' Day in 2014, months after Russia illegally occupied Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula and parts of the eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions. It replaced a former holiday marked on February 23 called Defender of the Fatherland Day, which had been instituted in Soviet times.
Earlier in the morning, Ukraine's air force said in a statement on Telegram that its air defenses shot down 29 out of 32 drones launched by Russia's military at seven Ukrainian regions.
The drones were shot down in the regions of Cherkasy, Kirovohrad, Mykolayiv, Kherson, Poltava, Sumy, and Dnipropetrovsk, the air force said, adding that three other drones lost their way "as a result of electronic warfare counteraction" and did not cause any damage.
On September 30, Zelenskiy again acknowledged the "very, very difficult" situation the military is facing in the east, where Russian forces have been attempting for months to capture the logistics hub of Pokrovsk in the Donetsk region,
Following a meeting with top commanders, Zelenskiy said that "reports on each of our frontline sectors, our capabilities, our future capabilities and our specific tasks: The situation is very, very difficult."
Zelenskiy stressed the importance of the upcoming Ukraine Defense Contract Meeting at the U.S. air base at Ramstein in Germany and stressed the need to make gains ahead of the gathering to assure Western allies of Ukraine's ability to make battlefield gains.