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What the 10 October 2022 missile strikes showed
Summary
A look back at a day of Russian missile strikes across Ukraine, and the events of the preceding days that framed it.
What happened on 10 October 2022, and how did it connect to the days before it? On that date, the Russian Armed Forces launched missile strikes on Kyiv, Kharkiv, Khmelnytskyi, Zhytomyr, Zaporizhzhia, Ivano-Frankivsk, Sumy, Dnipro, Lviv, Ternopil and Poltava. At least nineteen people were killed and hundreds more were injured.
A wide geographic spread
The list of cities hit stretched across the country, from Kharkiv and Sumy in the north-east to Lviv, Ternopil and Ivano-Frankivsk in the west. Zaporizhzhia and Dnipro were also among the targets. Strikes on this many places in a single day meant that the effects were felt well beyond any one front.
The days leading up to it
The strikes came after a run of violent events. On 8 October 2022, an explosion hit the Kerch Strait Bridge, causing a fire and the partial collapse of a road section. Three people died. A Russian investigative committee said it was a Ukrainian truck bomb. On 9 October 2022, Russian president Vladimir Putin formally accused Ukraine, and specifically the Security Service of Ukraine, of being behind the blast, calling it an act of terrorism.
Zaporizhzhia had already suffered heavily. As reported on 8 October 2022, the death toll from the preceding Thursday's shelling of a residential area there rose to 17 civilians, including a child. On 9 October 2022, a Russian missile attack on the city killed at least 13 people and injured 89 others.
Regional reverberations
The strikes also had an effect beyond Ukraine's borders. Moldova confirmed on 10 October 2022 that Russian Navy warships in the Black Sea had fired cruise missiles through its airspace to hit targets inside Ukraine. Moldovan authorities then summoned the Russian ambassador to explain the violation.
A separate development on 8 October 2022 showed how the use of Iranian drones by Russia was shaping Ukraine's own policy: Ukraine's immigration centre denied visa extensions to Iranian students, in retaliation for that use during the invasion.
What the day showed
Taken together, the events of 8 to 10 October 2022 show a rapid sequence: an explosion on the bridge, a formal accusation from Moscow, and then missile strikes on cities across Ukraine. The casualty figures from Zaporizhzhia and the nationwide strikes underline the toll on civilians, while Moldova's protest showed that the missile launches drew in a neighbouring state's airspace.
