During the week of October 20–26, the Russian army massively struck Ukraine's energy infrastructure. Power outages occurred in some regions. The worst situation was in Chernihiv and its surrounding oblast. Ukrainian military intelligence links the massive strikes on Chernihiv and Sumy regions to Russia's attempts to create "buffer and sanitary zones" in these areas. Over the week, the enemy attacked the capital four times. The Russian aggression claimed the lives of media workers, rescuers, and children. The Russian army continues to cover frontline regions with fire, hunting people and vehicles with drones.
On October 20, the enemy army shelled Chernihiv, Kharkiv, and Dnipropetrovsk regions. In Chernihiv region, several energy facilities, railway infrastructure, and an agricultural enterprise were struck. Tens of thousands of homes were left without electricity. In Dnipropetrovsk region, the enemy barraged the area with drones and artillery, destroying four private residential buildings, six auxiliary structures, a cultural center, damaging power lines, and causing a fire in a five-story building and shops.
On October 21, enemy attacks targeted Dnipropetrovsk, Kherson, Kharkiv region, the city of Kharkiv, and Chernihiv region. Fires raged everywhere, apartment buildings and private houses were destroyed, auxiliary structures damaged, cars ruined, and civilians wounded. In Chernihiv region, a massive attack by strike drones and two ballistic missiles resulted in hits to a heat supply facility and an energy facility in the Chernihiv district. The attack left the city of Chernihiv and three northern districts of the oblast without power. During the day, Russian UAVs massively attacked the border town of Novhorod-Siverskyi, recording about 20 explosions. Four people were killed, and seven were hospitalized, including a 10-year-old girl. There is extensive destruction in the city. Russians attacked the city of Kharkiv with guided aerial bombs and the Kharkiv region with various types of weapons. Overnight, hits were recorded in the Industrial and Nemyshlianskyi districts. Fourteen private houses and civilian enterprises sustained damage.
Night of Russian Terror: Zaporizhzhia, Kyiv, Kharkiv
On the night of October 22 and into the morning, Russians massively attacked Ukraine with strike drones and missiles. According to the Air Force summary, a total of 405 UAVs of various types and 28 missiles were used. The energy sector was under attack, but many hits on residential buildings were recorded. Dozens of regions were affected. The main target was the Kyiv region. In Poltava region, facilities belonging to oil and gas industrial enterprises were damaged. Russia massively shelled Odesa region with strike UAVs: fires broke out at energy and port infrastructure facilities in the city of Izmail.
High-rise buildings burned in Kyiv, and at least 10 houses were damaged. Two people were killed, and 25 were injured, including four children. Four people died in Kyiv region: a young woman born in 1987, a 6-month-old baby, and a 12-year-old girl. Their bodies were found at the site of a private house fire.
The enemy attacked Zaporizhzhia with drones, striking infrastructure. The attack lasted 3 hours. As a result of the attack, 13 people were injured, including 2 children, and balconies in residential buildings caught fire. The city experienced a blackout, leaving 2,000 people without electricity.
A total of 5,300 enemy strikes were recorded in the region over the week. Russians struck Zaporizhzhia twice. 490 houses and infrastructure facilities were destroyed and damaged. One person was killed, and 26 were wounded.
Russians struck a kindergarten and adjacent houses in the Kholodnohirskyi district of Kharkiv with three "Shaheds." The 48 children who were in the kindergarten at the time were unharmed—they were in a shelter and were evacuated by rescuers and police officers. Photographs of rescuers carrying frightened toddlers in their arms circulated throughout all domestic and world media.
Kharkiv photojournalist Ivan Samoіlov documented the consequences of the strike on the kindergarten.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy reacted to the strike on the kindergarten:
"There is and can be no justification for a drone strike on a kindergarten. It is obvious that Russia is becoming brazen. These strikes are Russia's spit in the face of everyone who insists on a peaceful solution. Bandits and terrorists can only be put in their place by force."
Photographer Serhii Korovainyi also worked at the site of the strikes. Beneath a series of photographs from the shelled Kharkiv, he wrote in his post:
"A handsome adult retriever whined like a puppy as 'Shaheds' flew overhead. After the explosions, smoke rose over the Annunciation Cathedral, and I recalled a foreign colleague who, on the night before the full-scale war, suggested finding a hotel in that area because Russians wouldn't bomb Orthodox churches. This time, drones collapsed the second floor of a kindergarten in the center of Kharkiv, and miraculously, none of the 48 children were harmed; they were in the shelter. They weren't physically harmed, of course, but who talks about children's stress now. One man was killed, and seven more were wounded."
In Kharkiv, one person was killed, and 10 people were injured, including one child. A municipal enterprise worker died in the attack. Damaged facilities included a store, a cafe, an office building, and six cars. Fires broke out, the largest covering 500 sq. m—in the kindergarten building, where the second floor was destroyed.
On the night of October 23, the occupiers attacked a railway station in Sumy region. Enemy strikes targeted Kherson, Kharkiv, and the surrounding oblast, where a rescuer was killed in a repeat strike, and five of his colleagues were wounded. Numerous destructions of civilian objects and casualties were reported. In Kramatorsk, media workers were killed in a Russian "Lancet" drone strike: Freedom TV channel journalist Olena Hubanova and cameraman Yevhen Karmazin. In Orikhiv, Zaporizhzhia region, a Russian FPV drone attacked a fire and rescue vehicle, injuring one rescuer and damaging the vehicle.
Second Attack on the Capital
On the night of October 23, Russian UAVs flew toward Kyiv again. Nine residents of the capital were injured in the attack. Destruction was recorded at 10 locations in the Podilskyi, Obolonskyi, and Desnianskyi districts of the city.
Direct drone hits were recorded on residential buildings in the Obolonskyi and Desnianskyi districts. Religious institutions, educational facilities, a museum, warehouse premises, and a business center were also damaged, and fires broke out everywhere.
Photo documentarians Kostiantyn and Vlada Liberov shared their thoughts after working at locations in the capital:
"Imagine the situation. In the middle of the night, a Russian Shahed flies into your apartment. Luckily—it doesn't detonate. 'Luckily'... but these are the realities of Ukrainian life today. And you smile. Because that is what it means to be Ukrainian. Second consecutive attack. For the second night in a row, missiles fly across the entire country, destroying civilian infrastructure, including our energy sector."
On the night of October 24, Kirovohrad region was under Russian drone attack, and Russians shelled Dnipropetrovsk region with artillery and FPV drones. In the morning, the enemy covered Kherson with fire. Apartments in high-rise buildings and a private house burned. Two people were killed, and 21 were injured, including a 16-year-old boy in moderate condition after a Russian shell flew into his house. Russian drones interfered with firefighters' work. In the morning, four enemy guided aerial bombs struck Kharkiv. The Industrial district of the city was damaged, and casualties were reported. A fire broke out at a motor transport enterprise.
Third Attack on Kyiv
On October 25 at 4 a.m., Kyiv was attacked by Russian ballistic missiles. Hits were recorded in three districts of the city. In the Desnianskyi district, the Russian attack destroyed a store, warehouses, and cars. A fire covering 13,000 sq. m broke out. Two SES helicopters were deployed to extinguish the fire. In the Darnytskyi district, administrative and production buildings burned: a 9-story and a 2-story one.
A kindergarten was damaged in the Dniprovskyi district; a huge crater formed in the courtyard from the strike, and adjacent houses were damaged. Two people were killed, three were hospitalized, and many people sustained numerous shrapnel wounds to their limbs.
Head of the Kyiv City Military Administration Tymur Tkachenko reported: "No ammunition, no military production facilities. Russian terrorists are striking our civilian and residential infrastructure with ballistic missiles. All we see is pure terror."
Kostiantyn Liberov, who documented the consequences of the capital's shelling for the second time this week, addressed the foreign audience:
"Another terrifying night in Kyiv. Ballistic missile and Shahed strikes hit the city's civilian infrastructure. There are dead. The war in Ukraine continues. Nothing has stopped or become easier, and negotiating with the aggressor is impossible. I am writing this message for our international audience: please, do not forget about Ukraine and Ukrainians. Now, more than ever, we need your support. All we want is peace and the right to live on our own land."
Kherson and Dnipropetrovsk regions were under shelling. A rescuer was killed there in a repeat missile strike, and one was injured. Two SES vehicles were damaged. Among the local population, one person was killed and seven more were wounded.
On the night of October 26, Russians shelled Kyiv with strike drones for the second time in 24 hours and the fourth time this week. Three people were killed, and 32 people were injured, including seven children. The Dniprovskyi, Desnianskyi, and Darnytskyi districts of the city were affected. Both falling debris and direct drone hits on apartment buildings were recorded. Fires broke out.
Maintenance was carried out at the temporarily occupied ZNPP (Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant)
The material was prepared by:
Topic Researcher, Text Author: Yana Yevmenova
Visual Editor: Olga Kovalova
Literary Editor: Yuliia Futei
