Armed Forces of the Russian Federation
The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation are the military structure of Russia, bringing together the Ground Forces, the Aerospace Forces, the Navy and other service branches. They operate under the Russian Ministry of Defence, with overall command exercised by the Chief of the General Staff. Since February 2022 they have been conducting a full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
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Russian strikes hit 28 substations, knock out power in 10 oblasts
On the night and morning of October 19, Russia struck Ukrainian energy infrastructure with missiles and drones, damaging 28 substations and other facilities and leaving new power outages in ten oblasts, President Zelensky reported after a selector meeting. Parts of Vinnytsia Oblast lost electricity and water, and a broader attack on Kyiv killed one person and injured eight. Zelensky said some political air-defense agreements have not been implemented at working level, including delayed US Department of War deliveries, and announced an expansion of orders for AI-controlled anti-drone turrets.
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Ukraine's Third Army Corps completes offensive 'Vivaldi' on Lyman axis, commander says Russian plan to seize Donetsk Oblast disrupted
Ukraine's Third Army Corps has completed its offensive operation 'Vivaldi' on the Lyman direction. According to corps commander Brigadier General Andrii Biletsky, the operation liberated 277 square kilometers, destroyed Russia's 144th Division of the 20th Army, and disrupted Moscow's plan to fully capture Donetsk Oblast by year's end. Russian losses exceeded 8,000 personnel and 270 were captured, while Ukrainian losses were seven times lower.
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Ukrainian airborne assault forces report Russian attempts to exploit bad weather on Huliaypole front
Ukraine's 7th Corps of the Airborne Assault Forces reported that Russian forces are combining small-group infantry infiltrations with motorcycle movement and armored vehicles on the Huliaypole direction as weather conditions deteriorated over the past week. Multiple Russian combined-arms armies are committed on the axis, which the report identifies as a key southern thrust toward Zaporizhzhia. Ukrainian forces destroyed a GRU-linked special-purpose brigade group and a logistics bridge used by the Russian army.
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Russian guided bombs strike Dnipro residential area, injuring elderly woman and trapping residents under rubble
Russian forces struck the city of Dnipro with guided aerial bombs in the early hours of Monday, October 19, damaging and destroying private houses. An 84-year-old woman was hospitalized, preliminary reports indicated residents may be trapped under rubble, and emergency services worked at the scene. The attack was part of a broader combined overnight Russian missile and drone strike on Ukraine that also hit Kyiv.
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Russian strikes hit Rivne Oblast overnight, injuring four and cutting power across the region
On the night of 19 October, Russian forces struck several civilian-infrastructure objects in Rivne Oblast using ballistic and cruise missiles and a large number of drones. Rivne OVA head Oleksandr Koval initially reported two women injured; later police reporting raised the toll to four — three women and one man, hospitalised. Power outages spread across the region, with the largest impact in Rivne district, and a hit was recorded in the Ostroh community.
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Russian strikes on Odesa Oblast energy grid cut power to about 24,000 consumers
Russian forces struck energy infrastructure in Odesa Oblast overnight on October 18, leaving roughly 24,000 consumers without electricity across three districts and damaging two critical infrastructure facilities. Odesa Oblast head Oleh Kiper reported the attack, and energy operator DTEK described the damage as large-scale, with emergency restoration work ongoing.
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Russian drone strike on Odesa residential building injures two, including a child
On 18 October, a Russian Shahed-type kamikaze drone struck a 19-storey residential building in Odesa, damaging the roof and top-floor apartments and injuring two people, one of them a teenage girl. The strike came the same night as Russian attacks on energy infrastructure across southern Odesa Oblast, which left around 24,000 households without power.
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Russian airstrikes hit Kherson residential district, killing ambulance driver and wounding civilians including two children
Russian forces struck the Korabelnyi district of Kherson with eight guided aerial bombs in two airstrikes within roughly an hour on the morning of October 17. A 64-year-old driver of an emergency medical service brigade was killed in a repeat strike that hit after medics had arrived at the scene. A paramedic and a nurse were among the wounded, and casualties included an 11-year-old girl and a one-month-old infant from a family of three hospitalized in moderate condition. A 58-year-old man was later hospitalized in a coma with skull fractures and an open head injury, and was reported to have died in hospital. Ten multi-storey residential buildings, a supermarket, administrative buildings and a Red Cross office were damaged; rescuers pulled survivors from the rubble.
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Russia launches massive combined missile and drone attack on Ukrainian energy infrastructure in 10 oblasts
In the night of October 17, Russia struck energy infrastructure across 10 Ukrainian oblasts with ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, and 332 strike drones, one of the largest composite attacks recorded. Air defense intercepted 293 aerial targets, but direct hits were recorded at 22 locations. President Zelensky said more than 15 power generation and transmission facilities were hit and characterized the attack as a deliberate attempt to cause a nationwide blackout.
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SpaceX unilaterally imposed speed limit on Starshield terminals in Ukraine on October 14, sparking dispute with the Trump administration
On the night of October 14, SpaceX unilaterally imposed a speed cap of approximately 160–161 km/h on Starshield military satellite terminals used by Ukraine, without prior warning. The restriction has disabled Ukrainian drone-interceptors designed to chase Russian jet-powered Shahed drones, and prompted a dispute over who ordered it: Ukraine's President Zelensky called the measure a "planned operation" after testing Starlink in EU countries at 180+ km/h without limits, while the White House, Elon Musk, Secretary of State Rubio and President Trump all denied involvement.
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Russian FAB-250 strike on Sloviansk residential area kills DSNS rescuer, injures 10
On the night of 17 October, Russian forces dropped FAB-250 aerial bombs on a residential microdistrict in Sloviansk, Donetsk Oblast, hitting two multi-storey buildings and partially destroying two of eight damaged structures. One person — a 41-year-old State Emergency Service (DSNS) rescuer, Anatolii Hopka — was killed and ten others were injured, with search-and-rescue operations continuing at the impact sites amid possible people trapped under rubble.
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Russian missile strike hits residential area in Zaporizhzhia, injuring five including a child
Russian forces struck a residential area in Zaporizhzhia around 5 a.m. on 17 October with multiple missile strikes, damaging multi-storey apartment buildings and injuring five civilians, including an 11-year-old girl. The blast wave also damaged the office of the Suspilne Zaporizhzhia broadcaster, though no staff were inside. The attack was part of a broader overnight Russian assault on multiple Ukrainian cities that also hit Kryvyi Rih and Kherson.
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Russian forces strike Sumy with guided bombs and drones, killing one and wounding civilians
On the morning of 17 October, Russian forces attacked the Sumy community in northeastern Ukraine with eight guided aerial bombs (KABs), four of which struck the city itself. A 42-year-old man was killed and at least two civilians wounded in the residential-sector strike, while Molniya-type drone hits were also reported in two districts of the city.
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Ukraine confirms strikes on Russian drone plant and missile brigade warehouse
Ukraine's General Staff confirmed on October 17, 2026, that Ukrainian Defense Forces struck two targets in Russia: the "Roboavia" UAV production facility near Lenina, Rostov Oblast, on October 16, and a material-technical supply warehouse of a Russian missile brigade near Latyshi, Bryansk Oblast, on October 12. The General Staff framed both strikes as part of Ukraine's right to self-defense under Article 51 of the UN Charter, aimed at reducing Russia's military-economic and technological potential. Russia has not publicly commented, and Radio Liberty said it could not independently verify the claims.
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Russian forces executed captured Ukrainian soldiers on Hulyaipole direction, Ukraine opens war crime investigation
Russian servicemembers, believed to be from the 38th Separate Motor Rifle Brigade, executed captured Ukrainian service members on the Hulyaipole direction in Zaporizhzhia Oblast, Ukraine's military reported on October 17. Spokesperson Maksym Kravchuk of the "South" force grouping said intercepts captured orders to "finish off" and "zero out" the unarmed prisoners, and Ukrainian forces also obtained drone video of the scene. Ukraine's Office of the Prosecutor General opened a pretrial investigation under Article 438 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine for a war crime causing death.
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Russia launches massive new campaign of strikes on Ukrainian energy facilities
On 16 October, Russian Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov publicly reported to Vladimir Putin that Russia had begun a dedicated campaign of massive strikes on Ukrainian energy infrastructure. Overnight into 17 October, Russian forces hit energy facilities in 10 oblasts, with President Volodymyr Zelensky saying more than 15 power generation and transmission sites were damaged in one of the largest such strikes on record.
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Russian drone strike on Uman hits residential building, injures five
Russian drones struck Cherkasy Oblast overnight on 15–16 October, hitting the city of Uman at three locations and causing fires in a multi-storey residential building, a destroyed guardhouse, and a commercial warehouse area. Five people were injured, three of whom were hospitalised. The same wave of drone attacks also hit Lutsk, Rivne, Ivano-Frankivsk, Chortkiv, and Kyiv.
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Russia launches largest drone attack on Kirovohrad Oblast since start of full-scale invasion, killing three
On the night of October 14-15, Russian forces launched the largest drone attack on Ukraine's Kirovohrad Oblast since the start of the full-scale invasion, striking around 25-26 locations across the region. The more-than-10-hour attack with nearly 360 drones killed three residents of Kropyvnytskyi and injured six others. It destroyed the logistics center of the Fayno Market grocery chain in Kropyvnytskyi and damaged residential buildings, transport infrastructure, and enterprises across multiple cities in the region.
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Day 1695: 260 combat clashes recorded, Pokrovsk direction sees heaviest fighting
The General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces reported 260 combat clashes along the front line over the past day. The Pokrovsk direction saw the highest concentration of attacks at 35. Russian forces launched one missile strike, 85 airstrikes dropping 278 guided aerial bombs, 8,224 kamikaze drones, and 2,625 shellings of Ukrainian positions and settlements, 15 of them using multiple launch rocket systems.
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Russian strikes on Dnipropetrovsk Oblast kill two, including in broader overnight assault on Ukraine's energy infrastructure
Russian forces shelled four districts of Dnipropetrovsk Oblast overnight into 14 October, killing two people and injuring six, including a child, according to Ukrainian officials. The regional strikes were part of a larger combined attack across Ukraine that involved dozens of ballistic missiles and more than 120 strike drones, with energy facilities and critical infrastructure in Kyiv, Kyiv Oblast, and Kharkiv as the main targets.