Russia strikes Ukraine as latest Trump peace efforts falter

Olesia Safronova, Aliaksandr Kudrytski, Bloomberg News on Oct 22, 2025

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

Russia launched multiple drone and missile strikes on Ukraine as the latest peace attempts by President Donald Trump appeared to be floundering.

The attack killed at least seven civilians, including children, with more than a dozen injured across the country in the early hours of Wednesday, according to reports from Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and local authorities.

Ten regions were targeted, including the capital of Kyiv, Odesa in the south and Dnipro in the east, with energy infrastructure and many residential buildings being hit, the president said in a post on X.

“Russian words about diplomacy mean nothing as long as the Russian leadership doesn’t feel critical problems,” Zelenskyy said. He called for stronger sanctions on Moscow and delivery of long-range weapons to Ukraine.

The strikes came as a planned second summit between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin on ending the war was thrown into jeopardy. The U.S. leader said Tuesday he didn’t want to have “a wasted meeting” with his Russian counterpart. The summit was expected to take place within weeks in Budapest.

Trump said he hadn’t made a determination to scrap the meeting, but reiterated his desire — rejected by the Kremlin — to see current battlefield lines frozen as part of a ceasefire agreement. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov dismissed that idea on Tuesday, signaling that Moscow continues to demand Ukraine cede full control of its Donetsk region.

Ukraine downed more than half of the 28 missiles fired by Russia, as well as 333 out of the 405 drones used in the barrage, the country’s air force command said on Telegram.

The latest diplomatic snag reduces the risk of a potentially unfavorable deal being struck over Ukraine’s head. But it also leaves Kyiv fighting off Russia’s grinding offensive with no obvious end in sight. Russia continues to ramp up its attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure with Kyiv attempting to respond by targeting refineries.

Trump on Friday rebuffed Zelenskyy’s request for Tomahawk long-range missiles, which would allow Kyiv to extend its strikes deep into Russia, and potentially even to reach Moscow. The U.S. president briefly touted the possibility of sending the weapons, raising expectations that he was coming around to the idea that arming Ukraine would force Russia to negotiate in earnest.

The Ukrainian leader travels to Stockholm on Wednesday as he seeks military aid, including air defenses. He will then join European Union leaders at their summit in Brussels on Thursday to discuss additional sanctions targeting the Kremlin and the use of frozen Russian central bank assets to provide financial aid to Ukraine. Kyiv’s allies from the so-called Coalition of the Willing are due to convene on Friday.

“We must ramp up the pressure on Moscow with the 19th European sanctions package we are approving, which will reduce resources that Moscow can use for the war,” Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni told the Senate ahead of the EU summit. The stalemate on the battlefield “has today made possible reaching peace.”

European nations are working with Ukraine on a 12-point proposal to end Russia’s war along current battle lines, pushing back against Putin’s renewed demands to the U.S. for Kyiv to surrender territory in return for a peace deal. A peace board chaired by Trump would oversee implementation of the proposed plan, according to people familiar with the matter.

“Ukraine has already agreed to the U.S. proposal for a ceasefire,” Andriy Yermak, the president’s chief of staff, said on X. “Moscow, however, is doing everything possible to keep the killing going.”

Russian drones struck a kindergarten in Kharkiv several hours after the countrywide barrage, killing one person and injuring at least seven others, Zelenskyy said on Telegram. No children were hurt in the strike, city mayor Ihor Terekhov said on Telegram, correcting his earlier reports.

Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, is a frequent target of attacks with various types of weapons due to its proximity to the border with Russia.

Ahead of winter, Moscow has been stepping up strikes on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, knocking out more than half of its gas production that is essential for heating. The overnight strike hit the port city of Izmail on the Danube, local officials said on Telegram, as well as a facility in Odesa which belongs to the Ukraine’s biggest private energy utility DTEK, forcing the company to impose emergency power cuts for households.

Ukraine’s energy ministry estimates that October has been one of the hardest months in terms of severity of the attacks on the country’s grid, transportation networks and gas production facilities since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion, now well into its fourth year.

Separately, Ukraine’s General Staff said late Tuesday that the country’s Air Force together with other units struck a chemical plant in Russia’s Bryansk, around 100 km (62 miles) from the border with Ukraine. Storm Shadow long-range cruise missiles were used, the General Staff said in a post on X.

____

—With assistance from Maxim Edwards and Donato Paolo Mancini.