Victory Chronicles-DAY 1325

Russia launched more than 450 drones and more than 30 missiles at critical infrastructure across Ukraine overnight, killing a child and injuring more than 20 people, Ukrainians President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Thursday.

The strikes, among the largest in recent weeks, caused widespread power outages and damaged energy facilities as the country braces for winter.

“It was a cynical and calculated attack — over 450 drones and more than 30 missiles launched against everything that sustains normal life, which Russia seeks to destroy,” Zelenskyy said on the Telegram social media channel.

The attacks struck multiple regions, including Kyiv, Donetsk, Chernihiv, Cherkasy, Kharkiv, Sumy, Poltava, Odesa, Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporizhzhia, Kirovohrad and Kherson. Emergency services are working around the clock to restore power and water supplies.

Zelenskyy said civilian and energy infrastructure remain primary targets as Russia ramps up pressure ahead of the winter heating season.

He also urged Ukraine’s international partners to take stronger action to help protect the country’s skies.

“The world needs not empty statements but decisive steps — from the U.S., Europe, and the G7 — to deliver air defense systems and strengthen sanctions,” he said. “We expect a response from the G20 and everyone who speaks about peace yet avoids real action.”

The attack highlights the growing strain on Ukraine’s power grid and the mounting humanitarian risks for civilians as temperatures drop.

Ukraine downs 420 Russian aerial targets in massive overnight attack. Ukraine’s air defenses intercepted or neutralized 420 Russian aerial targets overnight as Moscow carried out one of its largest combined air assaults of the war, the Ukrainian Air Force said Thursday.

The attack began late Oct. 9 and included 32 missiles and 465 drones launched from multiple regions of Russia and occupied Crimea. The barrage involved Iranian-designed Shahed drones and Russian ballistic and cruise missiles, including Kinzhal and Iskander systems.

Air defenses destroyed 405 drones, one Kinzhal missile, four Iskander-M ballistic missiles, nine Iskander-K cruise missiles, and one guided air missile, officials said. Despite the high interception rate, 13 missiles and 60 drones struck targets in 19 locations, damaging infrastructure and sparking fires.

Russian strike destroys farm in Kharkiv region, wiping out warehouses and equipment. A Russian attack on Oct. 10 destroyed an agricultural enterprise in Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv region, according to the All-Ukrainian Agrarian Council. The farm, one of the group’s members, lost seven warehouses, several fuel trucks and its agricultural machinery in the strike.

Andriy Dykun, head of the council, said the destruction highlights the daily risks faced by farmers working near the front lines.

 “Operating in frontline areas is a real challenge,” he said. “These farms remain pillars for their local communities and are among the first that need state support.”

Ukraine’s Security Says says its drones struck Russian positions on occupied territory. Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) said on Oct. 10 that its operators used strike drones to hit concentrations of Russian equipment and personnel on temporarily occupied territory. The SBU’s Center for Special Operations “A” released footage it said showed precise attacks on enemy staging areas.

The FP-2 drone, developed by Ukrainian firm FirePoint, carries a 105-kilogram (231-pound) warhead and has an advertised range of about 200 kilometers (124 miles). 

The company unveiled the middle-strike drone in Poland in September as a shorter-range complement to its long-range FP-1, which can carry up to 120 kilograms and travel roughly 1,600 kilometers (994 miles). FirePoint is also known for the long-range Flamingo rocket.

The SBU said the strikes disrupted Russian troop concentrations and logistics near the front, removing immediate threats to Ukrainian units. For soldiers on the ground, such drones act like precision artillery – smaller, cheaper and able to reach targets that traditional firepower sometimes cannot. The SBU added that operators worked day and night and that their actions would continue as part of broader defensive efforts.

Key Takeaways

1. EU and NATO states continue to take steps to increase European defenses against covert and overt Russian attacks.
2. The Kremlin continued its reflexive control campaign aimed at deterring the United States from selling Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine, including by threatening to deploy Russian missiles to Cuba.
3. Kremlin officials continue to indicate that US-Russian relations are deteriorating to levels similar to those during the Biden administration.
4. Ukrainian Ambassador to the UK Valerii Zaluzhnyi highlighted a Russian cognitive warfare effort to spread false information about future Ukrainian elections.
5. Kremlin ruler Vladimir Putin implicitly admitted that Russian air defenders shot two missiles at an Azerbaijan Airlines civilian plane in December 2024.
6. Russian elites are reportedly expressing concerns over the Kremlin’s years long efforts to nationalize assets.
7. Russia is increasingly conducting Shahed-type drone strikes against frontline areas, but will likely continue to conduct less precise guided glide bomb strikes as well due to their larger payloads.
8. Russia continues to commit war crimes against Ukrainian civilians.
9. Ukrainian forces advanced in northern Sumy Oblast and near Lyman and Velykomykhailivka. Russian forces advanced near Kupyansk and Pokrovsk, in the Kostyantynivka-Druzhkivka tactical area, and in the Kherson direction.

• G7 ambassadors hold urgent meeting over Russian strikes on infrastructure
• Rheinmetall will supply Ukraine with Skyranger 35 air defence systems at expense of frozen Russian assets
• Czechia among states affected by drone incidents near strategic locations, its armed forces say
• Bloomberg: Russia cancels Russian-Arab summit because almost no one wanted to attend
• Poland promises to help Ukraine after Russian strikes on energy infrastructure
• US Ambassador to NATO: Putin is weak, but cannot show it