Russia launched a wide drone and missile attack across Ukraine on Wednesday (October 22, 2025), killing at least six people, Ukrainian officials said, a day after U.S. President Donald Trump put his planned meeting with Russian leader Vladimir Putin on hold, saying he didn’t want it to be a “waste of time”.

Ukraine’s Energy Minister said a “massive combined overnight attack” on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure was still underway early Wednesday (October 22, 2025) — the latest in Russia’s effort to cripple the country’s energy system before winter. At least 18 people were injured in the attack, said Kyiv administration head Tymur Tkachenko.

The attack caused emergency power blackouts across the country, Ukraine’s Energy Ministry said. Repairs were underway where possible and electricity would be restored “as soon as possible,” it said.

“Another night that proves Russia does not feel enough pressure for prolonging the war,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a statement.

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He said the strike caused damages in the cities of Kyiv and Zaporizhzhia, as well as Odesa, Chernihiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Kirovohrad, Poltava, Vinnytsia, Zaporizhzhia, and the wider regions of Kyiv, Cherkasy, and Sumy.

Pressuring Russia

Mr. Zelenskyy urged the European Union, the United States, and the Group of Seven industrialised nations, or G7, to take steps to sanction Russia.

“It is very important that the world does not remain silent now and that there is a united response to Russia’s treacherous strikes,” he said.

Meanwhile, Ukraine’s Army General Staff said the country’s forces struck a chemical plant in Russia’s Bryansk region late on Tuesday night using air-to-surface Storm Shadow missiles. The plant is an important part of the Russian military and industrial complex producing gun powder, explosives, missile fuel and ammunition.

Relentless attacks

In the Kyiv region, rescuers discovered the bodies of three people — including two children — after a strike set a private house ablaze in the village of Pohreby, regional governor Mykola Kalashnyk said. According to him, the victims were a woman and her two daughters — an infant of 6 months and a 12-year-old girl.

“Their bodies were found at the site of the fire,” the Governor said. “This is a tragedy for the entire community, for the Kyiv region, and for the country.” Two more people were found dead in the Dnipro district of the Ukrainian capital, where emergency services rescued 10 people after a fire caused by drone debris hit the sixth floor of a 16-storey residential building, local authorities said.

The attack also blew out windows of a medical facility, and debris was found at another residential building, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko reported on his Telegram channel.

In the Darnytskyi district of the capital, emergency services were responding after drone debris hit a 17-storey residential building causing a fire on five floors. Fifteen people had to be rescued, including two children.

In the Desnianskyi district, 20 people were rescued after the facade of a 10-story building was damaged and a gas pipe caught fire. Debris from a drone also fell on a dormitory building and rescue workers were headed to the scene, Klitschko said.

The large-scale overnight aerial attack also targeted the city of Zaporizhzhia and the port city of Izmail in the southern Odesa region.

An “energy object” in Odesa region suffered “extensive damages” according to DTEK, Ukraine’s biggest private energy operator. The company also said Kyiv and Dnipropetrovsk regions experience emergency blackouts.

Following the blackouts, Energy Minister Svitlana Hrynchuk said that “as soon as security conditions allow, energy workers will begin assessing the consequences of the attack and carrying out repair work.”

Ukrainian drones hit enterprise in Russia’s Mordovia, local head says

A massive Ukrainian drone attack hit Russia’s region of Mordovia on Wednesday (October 22, 2025), damaging a local enterprise, the region’s Governor said in a statement on Telegram.

Local head Artyom Zdunov said that emergency services were at the scene of the strike on the facility, which he did not name.

Published – October 22, 2025 12:05 pm IST

Pillars of smoke rise over a tree line in a field in the Kharkiv region, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in Ukraine. File
| Photo Credit: Reuters

At least two people were killed and three more injured after a Russian missile strike on infrastructure in Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv region, said Governor Oleh Syniehubov on July 20.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian officials confirmed that the death toll following a Russian strike on July 19 on the city of Mykolaiv, had risen to four. A child was among the victims, said the city’s mayor, Oleksandr Sienkevych.

Writing about the Mykolaiv strike on social media, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that a projectile had hit a playground next to an apartment block.

“Russia proves every day with its terror that ‘pressure’ is not enough,” he said. “This destruction of life must be stopped. We need new solutions to support our defences. Russia must feel the power of the world.”

Ukraine’s air force said on July 20 that Russia had launched four missiles and 17 drones overnight, of which 13 drones had been shot down.

The attacks have left thousands of people without power or running water in the Poltava region of central Ukraine, Governor Filip Pronin said. Russia has continuously targeted Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, leading to blackouts across the country.

A pulverizing Russian onslaught in recent months has forced Kyiv’s troops to withdraw from some towns and villages in the eastern Donetsk region.

The latest targets are the mining town of Toretsk and the city of Pokrovsk, where Russia is stepping up its assaults. Ukrainian forces repelled 20 and 27 attacks on those areas respectively over 24 hours, Ukraine’s General Staff said on July 19. That was almost double the number of assaults recorded at other hot spots along the front line, it said.

Russia’s Defence Ministry also announced on July 20 that it had shot down 26 Ukrainian drones over Russia’s southern Rostov region, several hundred kilometers from the front line. Three more drones were destroyed over the Belgorod region, as well as one over the Smolensk region, it said. No casualties were reported.