This is the third large-scale combined attack against energy facilities in civilian areas in October, causing major power outages.
At least two more civilians were killed (and 23 wounded, including six children) in Zaporizhzhia, which was reportedly hit by more than eight ballistic missiles and 20 drones.
A seven-year-old girl is among those killed in the central Vinnytsia region.
More than 700 strikes
Thursday’s attacks were among the largest bombing raids since the Russian invasion began in 2022, with 705 munitions reportedly deployed.
Danielle Belle, who heads the UN monitoring team, stressed that if the pattern of attacks continues it would have “dangerous consequences” for civilians during the harsh winter months.
Belle reiterated that these disruptions would disproportionately affect vulnerable groups, including older people, people with disabilities and families with younger children.
The Ukrainian military reportedly responded to the long-range Russian attacks with its own drone and missile strikes.
Nuclear tests ‘can never be allowed under any circumstances’, reiterates the UN
Responding to a statement by the US president that his administration will begin testing nuclear weapons again, the UN on Thursday warned against proliferation and called for a moratorium to remain in place.
The risk of nuclear war “is already alarmingly high,” UN deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said in response to a question at the regular midday briefing in New York.
President Donald Trump said on social media that he had ordered the Pentagon “to begin testing our nuclear weapons on a level playing field,” in response to Russia’s testing of new nuclear delivery systems and China’s deployment of new ballistic missile silos, according to media reports.
China reportedly has not conducted a nuclear weapons test since 1996. The last test confirmed by Russia was in 1990.
Calculation and escalation error
Haq said any nuclear activity that “could lead to miscalculations or escalation with catastrophic consequences must be avoided. We must not forget the disastrous legacy of more than 2,000 nuclear weapons tests that have been carried out in the last 80 years.”
He added that from the point of view of the Secretary General “nuclear tests can never be allowed under any circumstances.”
Robert Floyd, Executive Secretary of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO), said in a statement that the treaty bans all nuclear explosions, while his agency “can and will detect any nuclear weapon test explosion anywhere on the planet and has successfully detected all six reported nuclear tests conducted this century.”
Mr. Floyd added that in this difficult time there was “an opportunity for world leaders to step forward and work together, on an equal footing, toward ratification of the CTBT and the shared goal of a world free of nuclear weapons testing.”
UN experts warn of rights violations in Nicaragua and urge to protect exiled citizens
A group of independent human rights experts are urging the international community to hold the Nicaraguan government accountable for serious violations of international rights and crimes, as they present their findings to the General Assembly for the first time.
Jan-Michael Simon, President of the Group, noted that Nicaragua once defended peace, freedom and democracy in Central America, but now faces accusations of dismantling the rule of law and democratic institutions.
Silencing dissent, inside and outside the country
The experts’ report to the General Assembly in New York describes a deliberate state policy to silence dissent and consolidate absolute power through violence, fear and the systematic erosion of rights.
Some documented human rights violations, they said, amount to crimes against humanity.
The group also condemned the growing number of enforced disappearances, calling them an act of cruelty that torments both victims and their families.
Independent experts also warned that the Government has extended repression abroad by depriving some exiles of their nationality, as a tool to punish dissidents.