Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has warned Russia will try in the coming winter to destroy Ukraine's power grid as it did during the last cold season, leaving thousands of Ukrainian civilians to face freezing temperatures.
Zelenskiy said on October 6 that he discussed preparations to protect heating facilities and the provision of electricity to the population during a meeting with the staff of the supreme commander in chief.
During the previous cold season Russia targeted Ukraine's power grid and energy facilities, knocking out electrical power to tens of thousands of people at a time.
"Such crazy logic, but we have to take this into account. This winter, Russian terrorists will again try to destroy our power system. We are fully aware of the danger," he said.
Representatives of the military and all officials responsible for the protection of Ukraine's energy industry and winter tactics reported during the meeting, Zelenskiy said.
"Winning this winter, going through all the difficulties, and giving protection to our people is very important," he said.
Late on October 6, the Russian-installed governor of Sevastopol, Mikhail Razvozhayev, said on Telegram that Russian anti-aircraft units appeared to have repelled an attempt to attack the Crimean port from the sea.
"Anti-aircraft systems have been in action," Razvozhayev said. "Preliminary indications are that an air attack from the sea has been thwarted."
Earlier on October 6, Russia launched a fresh attack on Kharkiv, killing at least two people, including one child, regional officials said as the northeastern Ukrainian region mourned dozens of people killed in a Russian strike on the village of Hroza the previous day.
One 10-year-old boy and his 68-year-old grandmother were killed while 28 people were wounded in the city of Kharkiv overnight, Mayor Ihor Terekhov and regional Governor Oleh Synyehubov said on October 6.
The boy's 11-month-old brother is among those wounded, Synyehubov added.
"The child was found under the rubble of a residential building. Unfortunately dead. Condolences to the parents and relatives," Terekhov wrote on Telegram.
Synyehubov said on Telegram that according to preliminary findings, two Iskander missiles hit the Kyiv and Osnovyan districts of Kharkiv, a city of 1.4 million people. His claim could not be independently verified.
Aftermath Of Another Deadly Strike In Ukraine's Kharkiv
The latest attack came as the Kharkiv region observed a three-day mourning period after the Russian missile strike the previous day that ripped through a cafe in Hroza, a village some 85 kilometers southeast of Kharkiv, killing at least 51 people, including a child, in what was this year's deadliest attack by Moscow forces on Ukrainian civilians.
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) on October 6 said it had sent a field team to probe the attack on Hroza.
"The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Turk, who saw for himself the horrific impact of such strikes, is profoundly shocked and condemns these killings," OHCHR spokeswoman Elizabeth Throssell told reporters in Geneva.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said the strike was a "deliberate terrorist attack," while the White House called the assault "incredibly horrifying for the people of Ukraine" and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres demanded that such attacks be halted immediately.
Separately, Russian shelling killed two civilians over the 24-hour period ending early on October 6 in the southern region of Kherson, regional Governor Oleksandr Prokudin said.
Ukraine's air defense said early on October 6 that it shot down 25 out of the 33 Iranian-made drones launched by Russia overnight on the Odesa, Mykolayiv, Kharkiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Cherkasy and Zhytomyr regions.
Oleh Kiper, the governor of the Odesa region, said on Telegram that Izmayil, one of the two Danube ports that Ukraine uses to export grain, was targeted by Russian drones that caused damage to port installations.
"The enemy once again targeted the port infrastructure of the Izmayil district," Kiper wrote on Telegram, adding, "a granary and nine trucks were damaged." Kiper said three Iranian-made drones were shot down by the Ukrainian air defenses. There were no immediate reports of casualties.
The attack prompted authorities in NATO-member Romania to shut down the Isaccea border crossing with Ukraine. Isaccea is located some 50 kilometers away from Izmayil.
On the battlefield, Ukrainian forces fought 37 close-quarter battles with Russian troops over the past day as they continue to conduct both offensive and defensive operations in eastern and southern Ukraine, the General Staff said in its daily report on October 6.