A massive blackout struck Russian-occupied Crimea overnight following reported drone attacks on energy infrastructure. Monitoring channels reported disabled substations and widespread outages, while Russian-installed officials confirmed disruptions in Sevastopol.
Ukraine freed 270 captives, including American teacher Stephen Hubbard, as a drone sank a cargo ship off Romania and killed a Ukrainian sailor and Ukrainian Storm Shadows reportedly hit an Oryol plant that makes Iskander components.
According to an official report on Monday, Oct. 19, Germany’s armed forces are overhauling how they train their combat medics, evacuate casualties and protect field hospitals. The move came after a Bundeswehr medical delegation studied battlefield care in Kyiv and Dnipro, where Ukrainian doctors reportedly told the team that drones now cause about 90% of combat wounds.
According to the doctors, roughly 100,000 soldiers have undergone amputations since the beginning of the full-scale war in 2022. Meanwhile, on Oct. 16, Ukraine approved a pilot project to deliver medicine, medical devices, blood samples and donor organs between hospitals through drones to shorten delivery times.
Ukrainian pilots are already using the 20-mm ammunition to intercept jet-powered attack drones, as Russia deploys faster targets that challenge Ukraine’s air defenses.
President Maia Sandu condemned the latest incursion as Russia’s war on Ukraine increasingly threatens neighboring Moldova.
One sailor killed and three others missing after Comoros-flagged Khoryv hit near Romanian waters.
Russia has built 33 air-defense positions around its main Shahed drone production complex, placing it among the country’s most heavily protected sites. A separate report describes the exploitation of North Korean laborers, foreign women and Russian students working there.
Restrictions were placed on incoming and outgoing flights in Sheremetyevo, Domodedovo, Vnukovo, and Zhukovsky airports, Russian civilian aviation authority Rosaviatsiya reported.
RFE/RL joins Ukraine’s 93rd Mechanized Brigade on a dangerous route to Druzhkivka where Russian drones target vehicles and troops. Only a few thousand civilians remain inside the battered frontline city as Russian bombs devastate homes and Ukrainian forces hold the line.
The Kremlin has heavily invested in the promise that retreating Arctic sea ice opens up a once impassable route that is further from the reach of Ukrainian drone attacks or European naval interdiction of shadow fleet vessels. But officials are learning that cutting a path through ice isn't easy.
Russia will pitch its planned “Anti-Drone Dome” air defense system to African partners at next week’s Moscow summit, even as Ukrainian drone strikes continue to hit Russian oil refineries and other critical infrastructure, exposing gaps in Moscow’s air defenses.
Romania launched a rescue operation after a cargo ship carrying 13 Ukrainian and Azerbaijani crew members sent a distress signal in the Black Sea. Nine people were rescued and one body recovered, with three crew still missing, amid a series of suspected Russian drone attacks on shipping in the region.
Polish prosecutors are investigating an alleged plot to set fire to Flytronic, a factory producing reconnaissance drones used by Ukraine, after a Russia-linked recruiter reportedly offered $30,000 for the attack. The case has been referred to Poland’s Internal Security Agency.
"Russia continues its deliberate terror against the peaceful Zhytomyr Oblast," regional Governor Vitalii Bunechko wrote on Telegram.
Lorries waiting at the border to export agricultural produce into the bloc have become a target for Moscow’s attacks
Russian forces launched a massive drone attack on Sumy early Friday, Oct. 23, injuring at least two civilians and damaging residential areas. The assault followed deadly strikes on Kyiv and other Ukrainian regions as Moscow signaled readiness for renewed peace negotiations while continuing its bombardment.
President Volodymyr Zelensky tells CNN that Ukraine’s Starshield military communications remain restricted despite reports of restored service, limiting its ability to intercept Russian drones. He confirms US missile-warning intelligence has resumed, urges more Patriot interceptors and opposes easing sanctions on Moscow.
Garry Kasparov warns that exchanging Russian political prisoners for sanctions relief would allow Moscow to build more missiles and drones, while sharply criticizing the prospect of striking deals with Putin.
Russian forces struck a crowded market in Lozova, Kharkiv region on Thursday, Oct. 22, killing two women and injuring another 36 people. Two of those wounded were treated for acute stress reactions. According to regional authorities, the attack was carried out with a jet-powered Shahed drone and a Banderol missile during the middle of the day, damaging market pavilions, private houses, apartment buildings, private vehicles and a church.
The electronic warfare station was hit near the village of Gulevka in Russia's Bryansk Oblast. According to the General Staff, targeting Russian electronic warfare systems improves Ukraine's ability to effectively deploy drones.
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Russian forces struck a private house in the Zhytomyr community on Thursday, Oct. 22, with a jet-powered Shahed drone, leaving eight people wounded – including two children. The attack struck a region located in western Ukraine, far from the front line, after drone strikes damaged energy infrastructure and eight homes the previous day.
President Volodymyr Zelensky announced on Thursday, Oct. 22 that he signed seven agreements with Finland’s Prime Minister Petteri Orpo, including deals to expand Kyiv’s use of Finnish satellite capabilities through Nokia and ICEYE. The total value of the agreements amount to over €300 million (roughly $337 million), as Ukraine and Europe weigh alternatives to Starlink that disrupted Ukrainian drone operations without prior warning.
On the night of Sept. 12, Ukrainian drones attacked Taganrog. Ukraine's Security Service (SBU) reported hits on an FPV drone production facility, two drone storage sites, a Pantsir air defense system, and a radar.Local authorities, as usual, listed something else: 16 commercial buildings, five cars, a football
The operation retook 277 square kilometers north of Lyman. The drones that now hold that line lose their Starshield link above about 160 km/h.
Hours after a Kremlin aide said Russia was ready in principle for new talks, prosecutors say Russia destroyed 13 homes in one Kyiv district.
Russia has expanded air defenses around its Alabuga drone production hub in Tatarstan, where journalists identified 33 defensive positions. The concentration is comparable in number to defenses around Vladimir Putin’s Valdai residence, according to Radio Liberty. New satellite imagery shows additional towers and platforms around the complex as Russia continues expanding production of drones used against Ukraine.
Drone attacks on supply lines and safe cities are taking a devastating toll on civilians.
Militarnyi names the systems: Buk and S-300. Astra matched video of the explosion to the 75th Arsenal in Serpukhov.
Russia began firing the Filin at Ukraine in late summer. The firm that makes its onboard equipment also helps produce a Shahed-type drone.
Moscow Mayor claimed 630 drones had been heading toward Moscow since Oct. 21, while footage analyzed by Astra suggests a strike hit the 75th Arsenal military repair plant in Serpukhov. Russian officials also reported drone attacks and damage across several other regions.
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explicare.deRussian attacks killed 4 civilians and injured at least 14 others in Donetsk, Kharkiv, Chernihiv regions, including two boys aged 10 and 13. Drone strikes also damaged civilian vehicles and buildings in Kharkiv and Sumy, while a warehouse fire broke out in Kirovohrad region.