Russia Launched 36 Ballistic Missiles, 1,940 Drones in the Last Week

Russian forces launched 1,940 strike drones, more than 1,580 guided aerial bombs (KABs), and 44 missiles of various types – including 36 ballistic missiles – against Ukraine over the past week, President Volodymyr Zelensky announced on Sunday, Nov. 1. Writing on Telegram and reported by state news agency Ukrinform, the president emphasized that Moscow is deliberately exploiting an acute shortage of ballistic missile interceptors to maximize destruction against Ukraine’s civilian life-support systems ahead of winter.JOIN US ON TELEGRAMFollow our coverage of the war on the @Kyivpost_official. “During this week, Russia launched 1,940 strike drones, more than 1,580 KABs, and 44 missiles of various types, of which 36 were ballistics, against Ukraine,” Zelensky stated. “The intensity of the strikes is very high, and the Russians are trying to take maximum advantage of our deficit of ballistic interceptors.” Zelensky highlighted that Russian military doctrine for the approaching winter season is anchored fundamentally by high-speed ballistic salvos, which give air defense units only minutes to react and can only be engaged by specialized Western surface-to-air systems such as the Patriot PAC-3 and SAMP/T. Overnight power grid attacks across four regions The president reported that overnight into Sunday alone, Russian forces struck critical electrical energy facilities across four administrative regions: Dnipropetrovsk, Vinnytsia, Zhytomyr, and Khmelnytskyi. Russian munitions struck high-voltage substations, power transformers, and primary transmission lines directly supplying electricity to residential neighborhoods and municipal heating circuits. Other Topics of Interest Sybiha: Oleshky Success Proves War Can Be Stopped Everywhere Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said the Oleshky rescue serves as a confidence-building measure showing that the war can be stopped everywhere permanently. Emergency engineering detachments, utility specialists, and mobile repair crews deployed across the four regions to isolate damaged segments and restore voltage. However, Zelensky noted that hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian families remain without electricity as temperatures drop. The overnight barrage compounds infrastructure damage sustained over recent days. On Oct. 30, Russian strikes damaged combined heat and power plants in Kyiv and Shostka alongside four substations in Dnipropetrovsk region, severing power to roughly 280,000 households across central and eastern Ukraine. “Russia continues to destroy infrastructure and kill Ukrainians, making ballistic missiles its primary bet this winter,” Zelensky emphasized. “Therefore, decisions regarding the reinforcement of air defense must be implemented right now.” Appeals for Patriot missiles Addressing the urgent requirement for anti-ballistic munitions, Zelensky underscored that Kyiv is engaging international partners daily to secure immediate supplies of Patriot interceptor missiles from active inventories rather than waiting for long-term manufacturing contracts. “Every day we communicate about our need for missiles for Patriots with America, Europe, and other partners who can help,” Zelensky stated. “And this month there were new decisions from the US and European countries regarding new packages for Ukraine. But these deliveries cannot wait for years.” The warning follows the Trump administration’s formal authorization on Friday, Oct. 30, of a possible $2.1 billion Foreign Military Sale of 500 Patriot PAC-3 MSE missiles to Ukraine. However, diplomatic sources cited by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty revealed that the approved interceptors represent new production with delivery timelines extending past 2030, offering no near-term relief ahead of winter. In response to the multi-year production backlog, Zelensky announced in Istanbul on Saturday that Kyiv plans to negotiate emergency loans of 10 to 30 air defense missiles from European partners’ existing arsenals. Under the proposed queue-swapping mechanism, Ukraine would guarantee reimbursement to partner nations from the 500-missile American procurement contract once factory production rolls off assembly lines. Kyiv has requested a winter allocation providing 100 PAC-3 interceptors per month to establish a reliable defensive perimeter over power generation stations, water pumping nodes, and municipal district heating networks. “Thank you to everyone who supports the protection of the Ukrainian sky,” the president concluded, urging Western governments to accelerate physical munition handovers to avert widespread civilian catastrophe. Kyiv Post is Ukraine’s first and oldest English news organization, reporting since 1995. Its international reach – 90% of readers are outside of Ukraine – make it truly Ukraine’s global voice.