Russian forces carried out a combined drone and missile strike on Ukraine on October 21-22, hitting a kindergarten. The Ukrainian Air Force reported that the Russians launched 405 drones from the cities of Kursk and Orel; Millerovo, Rostov Region; Primorsko-Akhtarsk, Krasnodar Territory; and occupied Cape Chauda, Crimea.
This is reported by the Institute for the Study of War (ISW).
The Ukrainian Air Force reported that the Russians also launched 11 Iskander-M/KN-23 ballistic missiles from Bryansk and Rostov Regions and occupied Donetsk Region; nine Iskander-K cruise missiles from Kursk and Voronezh regions and occupied Crimea; four Kh-47M2 Kinzhal aeroballistic missiles from the airspace over Rostov region; and four Kh-59/69 cruise missiles from the occupied Zaporizhia region. The Ukrainian Air Force reported that Ukrainian forces had shot down 333 drones, eight Iskander-K cruise missiles, six Iskander-M/KN-23 ballistic missiles, and two Kh-59/69 missiles; that 12 missiles and 55 drones had hit 26 locations; and that drone debris had fallen in 19 locations. The Ukrainian Air Force noted that 17 drones had not reached their targets because they were "lost in place" (probably referring to Ukrainian electronic warfare interference).
The Russian strikes were primarily aimed at the Kyiv region and also affected Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporizhzhia, Cherkasy, Chernihiv, and Odessa regions. The strikes damaged civilian and energy infrastructure in Cherkasy, Dnipropetrovsk, and Kirovohrad regions.
Kyiv city and region officials reported that Russian forces killed four civilians and wounded 29 people. Children were among the dead and injured.
The Ukrainian Ministry of Energy announced emergency power outages in most Ukrainian regions and work is underway to restore them.
The Romanian Ministry of National Defense reported that fighter jets were scrambled to investigate air targets moving towards the Danube Delta region, as well as to carry out air patrol missions during the nighttime Russian strikes on Ukraine.
The United States announced new economic and military levers in response to Russian President Vladimir Putin's unwillingness to engage in good faith negotiations to end the war in Ukraine. On October 22, the U.S. Treasury Department announced that the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) was imposing additional sanctions on Russia as a result of Russia's lack of serious engagement in the process of ending the war in Ukraine.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Besant said that the United States was sanctioning Russian state-owned oil company Rosneft and private Russian oil company Lukoil - the two largest oil companies in Russia - and that the U.S. Treasury Department was prepared to take additional action if necessary to support U.S. President Donald Trump's efforts to end the war. OFAC also blocks any entities of which Rosneft or Lukoil directly or indirectly own 50 percent or more.
The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported on October 22 that U.S. officials said the Trump administration had lifted restrictions on Ukraine's use of Storm Shadow missiles, which use U.S. intelligence for guidance, to strike Russian territory.
According to a source, the decision to lift the restrictions was made before Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky met with U.S. President Donald Trump on October 17.
The Ukrainian General Staff noted that the plant produces gunpowder, explosives and rocket fuel components. ISW continues to assess that economic instruments, combined with measures that allow Ukraine to maintain pressure on the battlefield, are vital to getting Putin to reconsider his theory of victory.
Western reports indicate that the United States has canceled a planned meeting between Trump and Putin after Russia continued to demonstrate its unwillingness to compromise on its long-standing military demands in Ukraine. Fox News reported on October 22 that Trump had canceled a meeting with Putin in Budapest after Russia rejected Trump's request for a ceasefire in Ukraine.
On October 21, Trump said that he did not want to have a "wasted meeting".
A White House official said that there were no plans for a meeting between Trump and Putin "in the near future".
The Wall Street Journal reported that officials said that an Oct. 20 call between U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov showed that the Kremlin was not compromising on its long-standing demand that Ukraine cede all of Donetsk and Luhansk regions to Russia, and that Rubio subsequently briefed White House officials after the call, saying that the Trump-Putin summit was unlikely to yield positive results.
The Kremlin has recently publicly and privately emphasized its refusal to compromise on its demands, as evidenced by recent statements by Kremlin officials and reports of an unofficial document sent by Russian officials to the United States.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov used the backdrop of the Oct. 22 strategic missile tests to argue that the alleged "aggressive policy" NATO has forced Russia to adopt "compensatory military-technical measures". Russia will not allow NATO to drag it into a "very expensive arms race".