Russian ballistic missiles and drones struck Kyiv overnight into Thursday, killing one person and wounding 22, Ukrainian authorities said — the capital's third wave of strikes since Wednesday evening — while Moscow's mayor said Ukraine sent 630 drones toward the Moscow region the same night, most of them downed. The Kyiv attack damaged homes, transportation infrastructure and other civilian sites in several districts, Ukraine's State Emergency Service said, according to the Associated Press. In the Dniprovskyi district, on the eastern bank of the Dnipro River, one person was killed and six were wounded, including a child, as fires broke out. The overnight strikes followed the Kremlin's agreement on Wednesday to restart US-brokered talks aimed at ending the war. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had backed the push for new talks but was cautious — "We'll see what happens this time," he said shortly before missile alerts sounded over Kyiv.
What was hit in Kyiv overnight?
Residential buildings, energy facilities, a railway station, the metro, shopping malls and businesses, according to the president. Zelenskyy said three waves of ballistic missiles had been launched at Kyiv since Wednesday evening, using 21 missiles in all, and that 12 of Ukraine's regions came under Russian attack overnight. "Numerous sites across the city have been hit and damaged: ordinary residential buildings, energy facilities, infrastructure at one of the railway stations and the metro, shopping malls, and businesses. Even a monastery is among the damaged sites," he said in a statement on X. Mayor Vitali Klitschko said the strikes wounded at least 15 people overnight in the capital, including two children, with eight treated in hospital, and damaged parts of the metro running on the Southern (Pivdenny) Bridge over the Dnipro, restricting traffic between parts of the city, AFP reported. Ukraine's air force warned in the early hours of "more ballistic missiles towards Kyiv" and instructed residents to stay in shelters. Russia's Defence Ministry said its forces struck factories and warehouses involved in the production and storage of missiles and drones overnight, as well as transport infrastructure in Kyiv, port infrastructure in the Odesa region and ships supporting the Ukrainian army.
How do the casualty counts compare?
They differ by source, and they had not been reconciled in the reporting opened for this article. The Associated Press put the Kyiv toll at one killed and 22 wounded, citing Ukrainian authorities and the State Emergency Service. AFP reported that the night's attacks killed seven people in regions outside the capital — one man in Sumy and a woman in Kharkiv, both in the northeast, three people in southeastern Zaporizhzhia and two in the eastern Donetsk region, according to regional authorities — and put Kyiv's wounded at 15, on Klitschko's account. Zelenskyy put the injured in Kyiv and across the regions at 34, including five children, and said two people had been confirmed killed. Each figure is published here as its source reported it, for the scope that source described. Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha condemned the overnight attack: "Appeasement, servility, and flattery will not stop this war. Only strength will."
What happened over Moscow the same night?
Ukraine launched one of its largest reported drone waves at the Russian capital region. Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said 630 drones targeted the Moscow region overnight, 163 of them approaching the capital, and that Russia downed the vast majority of them, Reuters and AFP reported. Two people were injured in the wider region and were receiving medical treatment, Sobyanin said. The governor of the nearby Tula region said Russian air defences had destroyed 70 drones, and in Lipetsk, some 400 km south of Moscow, a man was injured as drones hit apartment buildings and a medical facility, Governor Igor Artamonov said. In Russia's western Belgorod region, a man was killed and another wounded in Ukrainian drone strikes, local authorities said. Ukraine did not comment on the Moscow-region figures in the reporting opened for this article, and the 630-drone count is published as the Moscow mayor's account.
Why does the timing matter?
The reciprocal strikes landed within hours of the St Petersburg diplomacy. On Wednesday, Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said President Vladimir Putin had agreed "in principle" to resume three-way negotiations with the United States and Ukraine after November 10, following envoy Steve Witkoff's three-hour meeting with Putin; President Donald Trump said negotiators were "maybe now the closest we've been" to ending the war. AFP reported that Ushakov also said a summit between Putin, Trump and China's Xi Jinping was being prepared in China's Shenzhen for next month. Witkoff called the talks "constructive" but said "there is still important work left to do," and Trump defended delaying new sanctions on Russia as necessary to secure the release of US citizen Stephen Hubbard, a retired teacher detained for fighting for Ukraine — charges he denied. None of it slowed the night's exchanges: Kyiv was struck for the third time since Wednesday evening, and the Moscow region reported its largest drone wave in the reporting opened for this article.
This report is drawn from the Associated Press's October 22 report, opened and read in full via its carrier; AFP's October 22 report, opened and read in full via its carrier; Reuters' October 22 Moscow-drone flash, opened and read in full via its verbatim carrier; and AnewZ's October 22 live coverage, opened and read in full. Casualty figures are published separately for each source and scope — the Associated Press for Kyiv, AFP for the four regions it listed, and President Zelenskyy's statement for his own count — because the three accounts had not been reconciled. The 630-drone figure is published as Moscow Mayor Sobyanin's account, via Reuters and AFP.
