And this morning, Russia launched a massive missile and drone attack against Ukraine, which Kiev says was aimed at Ukrainian infrastructure.
According to Ukrainian data, in October alone, Russia launched more than 2,000 drones against Ukraine, and since the beginning of the year they have been close to 7,000. There was only one day in October when there were no Russian drone strikes. The attacks usually last for hours, often through the night, and leave casualties and injuries. This constant uncertainty is a huge burden for the population of the attacked country, Suzanne Peterson writes in her report for ARD from Kyiv.
They are on the lookout for drones 24 hours a day
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky keeps repeating that his country needs "timely deliveries of missiles for its air defense" and calls on its Western partners to impose stricter controls on the export of components - microchips, microcontrollers, processors - that Russia uses to make the missiles with which it attacks Ukraine.
Further in its report, the German edition meets us with Grigory and Yuri - operators of a mobile air defense installation in the Kyiv region. They are manning a US-supplied "Avenger" anti-aircraft system. She uses "Stinger" missiles. or a machine gun to shoot drones out of the sky up to five kilometers away. When they hear the sirens, the two immediately take up their post - they are on alert 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Meanwhile, Ukraine is experiencing a serious shortage of soldiers. At the end of October, the government announced that it plans to expand the numerical composition of its army by about 160,000 new soldiers - soldiers that the army urgently needs.
Grigoriy and Yuriy have been working in a team since September, before they fought in Donbass. "We don't have much time to rest. But we need to get those drones out of the sky. We have to do our job," says 57-year-old Yuri. With lack of sleep, he is used to such an extent that one hour of sleep a day is already quite enough for him. Grigoriy confirms it: "We never forget that the lives of many other people, of our fellow citizens, depend on our actions."
Russian terror with drones
Also, Russia seems to have recently changed its tactics and is attacking with low-flying drones. The lower they fly, the more difficult they are to detect and neutralize.
This is a particularly big challenge in cities, where many different objects can interfere with air defense. "It's very dangerous," says military analyst and former Ukrainian Air Force officer Anatoly Grabchinsky. That's why many of the soldiers use machine guns.
According to Ukrainian observations, Russia is currently attacking mostly civilian targets in cities. The aim is to harass the population, Dmytro Belyk, head of the anti-aircraft missile regiment in the Kyiv region, also told ARD. "These terrorist attacks aim to tire and divide society”, and Russia wants to see "as many civilian victims as possible,", Grabchinskiy confirms.
Meanwhile, Kiev has announced that it is looking for ways to end the war through diplomacy. In an interview on Saturday, Volodymyr Zelensky said: "We must do everything in our power to end this war next year. This must be done by diplomatic means." Zelensky admitted that the situation on the front is difficult, but expressed hope that with the new administration of Donald Trump in the US, there will be a chance to end the war in Ukraine quickly. November 19 will mark 1,000 days since the start of the war.
Author: Suzanne Peterson ARD