High Casualty Russian Attack On Ukraine As NATO Chief In Washington

Just as NATO secretary general Mark Rutte is in Washington and is set to meet with President Trump Wednesday afternoon, Russia has launched another major overnight drone and missile attack which resulted in a high amount of civilian casualties.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a post on X that the attack killed at least seven civilians, including children, and that 17 were confirmed injured. “There were fires in Zaporizhzhia and hits on homes in Kyiv. The Kyiv, Odesa, Chernihiv, Dnipro, Kirovohrad, Poltava, Vinnytsia, Zaporizhzhia, Cherkasy and Sumy regions were under attack,” he wrote.

In all at least ten regions came under attack, and air defense were active across the country, with at least one major drone intercept caught on camera (below).

Zelensky highlighted both the ongoing need for Western-supplied air defense systems, as well as piling more sanctions on Moscow to make it feel the pressure. “Russian words about diplomacy mean nothing as long as the Russian leadership doesn’t feel critical problems,” Zelensky asserted.

Also, Zelensky alleged that Russia’s assault directly struck a kindergarten in Kharkiv, and that one fatality occurred as a result. He described all children were evacuated, with many “experiencing acute stress reactions”.

Many regions across the country have been experiencing blackouts as well, after already the national electricity grid operator said it would be forced to implement an emergency program of rolling outages.

The moment of interception of a Russian Shahed-136/Geran-2 long-range OWA-UAV by Ukrainian air defenses while it is diving on its target. pic.twitter.com/7UmSHgxKSu

— Status-6 (Military & Conflict News) (@Archer83Able) October 22, 2025

Zelensky has been arguing that Moscow has no interest whatsoever in peace: “These strikes are Russia’s spit in the face of everyone who insists on a peaceful resolution. Bandits and terrorists can only be put in their place by force.”

Russia’s military, for its part, has countered that it only targeted the “energy infrastructure of Ukraine’s military-industrial sector”. Moscow has frequently denied that it intentionally targets civilian sites and homes. 

“In response to Ukraine’s terrorist attacks on civilian facilities on the territory of Russia, the Russian Armed Forces delivered a massive overnight strike by ground-based and airborne long-range precision weapons, including Kinzhal air-launched hypersonic ballistic missiles and also attack unmanned aerial vehicles, hitting energy infrastructure of Ukraine’s military-industrial sector,” a statement in TASS said.

It added, “The goals of the strike were achieved. All the designated targets were hit.” Likely Russian officials are going to deny that the military attacked a children’s school.

Удар російського безпілотника по дитячому садочку в Харкові – після ночі масованої атаки. На жаль, відомо про одного загиблого. Мої співчуття рідним. Станом на зараз семеро людей постраждало. Їм надається медична допомога. Всі діти евакуйовані й перебувають в укриттях. За… pic.twitter.com/uSdSaf8k7u

— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) October 22, 2025

The military has also said Russian troops captured two settlements in the Dnepropetrovsk and Zaporozhye regions over the past 24 hours.

“Battlegroup Center units liberated the settlement of Ivanovka in the Dnepropetrovsk Region through decisive operations… Battlegroup East units kept advancing deep into the enemy’s defenses and liberated the settlement of Pavlovka in the Zaporozhye Region,” the defense ministry said in a statement.

NATO’s Rutte in Washington will likely press Trump to take a firmer stance on Russia, and the two might even privately discussing transferring US Tomahawk missiles to Kiev. Trump has signaled he’s against this for now, but the option has probably not been taken off the table just yet.