Putin instructed his military leadership to abandon the rules of warfare, which led to a sharp increase in strikes on civilian targets.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said this in an interview with the Financial Times.
The president says he has intelligence that Putin lifted restrictions on previous airstrikes back in September. Thatʼs when Russia began ramping up its airstrikes on Kyiv, hitting schools, hospitals and data centers.
Zelensky said Russia is preparing to step up attacks on Ukraineʼs largest cities to isolate them from the rest of the country as winter sets in. The main targets are Kyiv, Kharkiv and Odesa. According to Ukrainian and European security officials familiar with the intelligence, Lviv is also in Russiaʼs plans.
Ukrainian officials have said Moscow intends to strike nuclear facilities to disconnect them from the energy system, which would increase pressure on Kyiv to give in to Russiaʼs demands in early 2027.
- Yesterday, October 1, the Russians attacked the Southern Bridge in Kyiv, which was carrying a metro train across the Dnipro River at the time. According to Klitschko, there were two hits near the bridgeʼs supporting part. In the evening, Russia struck the bridge again.
- And on the morning of October 2, the bridge was hit for the third time. After that, traffic was restricted on all bridges in the capital.
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