Zelensky and Putin threaten new attacks, as Russia warns foreigners

Russia has vowed to intensify its relentless attacks on Kyiv and has warned foreign diplomats and other visitors to leave the country or else face “mortal danger”, while Ukraine’s leader said his country will respond to the Kremlin’s deadly air campaign.

“The Russian Foreign Ministry once again warns foreign nationals, including staff of diplomatic missions, not to stay in Ukraine or travel to its territory,” the ministry said on October 3.

“Responsibility for any negative consequences falls entirely on those who disregard this warning,” it said, adding that “not everyone has heeded these warnings and they are knowingly exposing their lives to mortal danger”.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, meanwhile, said Kyiv’s intelligence services had obtained documents showing that Russian leader Vladimir Putin had issued a “new doctrine” for military strikes on a wider range of civilian targets, ahead of the harsh winter months approaching.

“We saw the documents and we know that they allow them to attack infrastructure, logistics and, especially, to strike in cities, in villages, everywhere – roads, schools, hospitals,” Zelensky said in an interview with Reuters.

“To pressure people to leave the capital, to leave different cities: that is the purpose of the operation.”

Zelensky said his forces would not strike civilian infrastructure.

“We must respond in every way [we can]. With their attacks on our energy, we must respond against their energy. First of all, oil refineries etc.: what brings them money for this war,” Zelensky said, speaking in English, to the news agency.

“But we will not respond… as they do, against any civilian object,” he added.

Moscow intensifies its air campaign

Russia has escalated strikes on infrastructure in the Ukrainian capital and other cities as the winter months approach. In an October 3 strike, Kremlin forces hit a bridge over the Dnipro River.

Dozens of people have been killed and injured in the capital, while the latest attacks have caused extensive damage.

Putin said Ukraine was paying the price for its attacks on Russia and that Moscow’s forces would continue the campaign to punish Kyiv.

Ukraine has also stepped up its attacks inside Russia, targeting oil refineries and related facilities, which Kyiv says are used to finance the all-out war against Ukraine, which intensified after Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022.

Many countries have issued warnings against travel to Ukraine, but have also maintained diplomatic representations inside the war-torn country.

Outside the capital, Russia said it had struck a cargo ship in the Ukrainian port of Odesa. Ukraine’s seaports administration said Russia had attacked a Liberian-flagged cargo ship in the region, killing one person and injuring three others.

Moldova condemns Russia

Meanwhile, Moldova summoned the Russian ambassador after what it described as the latest violations of its airspace by drones and missiles that penetrated from the war zone.

Pro-Western President Maia Sandu said the incident – and a similar incident earlier in the week – showed that Russia’s war in Ukraine “is reaching Moldova”.

“Moscow is endangering lives across Europe and must be stopped,” she wrote on X.

“I condemn Russia’s attack on Ukraine this morning. Its war is dangerously reaching Moldova. Five Russian aerial attack weapons, including Banderol missiles and drones, violated our airspace and exploded on our territory,” she said.