Zelensky Says Putin Ordered Military to 'Abandon the Rules' in War on Ukraine

Zelensky made the statement from a bomb shelter inside a Kyiv school that was hit by a Russian strike the previous day, Novaya Gazeta Europe reported. More than 160 people, including about 100 children, were in the building at the time of the attack. No one was injured.

Speaking to the Financial Times, Zelensky cited intercepted intelligence. According to him, Putin instructed military chiefs to abandon the rules of warfare when striking Ukraine.

According to the Ukrainian president, Moscow attacked mainly military and energy facilities in the early stages of the war. This autumn, he said, drones began actively striking schools, telecommunications hubs and data processing centers.

Zelensky called this a deliberate decision by Russia's leadership. According to him, the attacks are aimed not simply at destroying infrastructure but also at pressuring people and instilling fear through relentless bombardment.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russian forces do not strike schools and hospitals. The FT noted, however, that drone debris found at the site of the strike on the Kyiv school bore markings of Russian manufacturers and handwritten text in Russian.

Ukraine's Education Ministry has documented more than 4,700 Russian attacks on the country's educational institutions. The World Health Organization has confirmed strikes on more than 3,000 medical facilities since the start of the full-scale war.

Separately, The New York Times reported that it obtained a copy of a document that Ukraine's Energy Minister Denys Shmyhal showed to European partners in Paris two weeks ago. According to the newspaper's sources, Shmyhal described the document as an intercepted Russian plan to bring down Ukraine's energy system through methodical attacks.

The NYT writes that the plan describes a campaign using up to a thousand missiles, drones and bombs. Targets could include electrical substations, hydroelectric power plants, thermal power plants, boiler houses and the water supply system. The document also says the Russian army plans to halt the operation of three of Ukraine's nuclear power plants.

Kyiv, Kharkiv and Odesa are designated in the document as the main targets: the Russian army wants to cut electricity supply to these cities by 90%, heat supply by up to 90%, and also disrupt the sewage system. The NYT emphasizes that it cannot independently confirm the authenticity of the document, which is dated August and written in Russian.