A residential complex in Kherson Oblast after Russian airstrikes killed one person and injured 22, including children, on October 17, 2026. Photo courtesy of DSNS of Kherson region.

Russian forces targeted Ukraine’s power grid overnight into October 17 and struck residential districts in Sloviansk and Kherson with aerial bombs, killing civilians and injuring dozens.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia struck more than 15 key power generation and transmission facilities. The assault involved more than 320 Shahed-type drones launched between 7 p.m. and 7 a.m., along with cruise and ballistic missiles. Ukraine’s Air Force reported downing 289 of 332 drones.

The hardest-hit areas included Lutsk, Rivne, Zhytomyr and Vinnytsia. Kharkiv, Kyiv and Dnipropetrovsk regions were also targeted.

At about 3:40 a.m. on October 17, Russian aircraft dropped FAB-250 bombs on a residential district of Sloviansk, damaging nine apartment buildings, according to police. Donetsk Oblast Military Administration head Vadym Filashkin later reported that six people were killed and 13 injured in Sloviansk that day. One person was also killed and another injured in Kramatorsk, bringing the oblast’s toll to seven dead and 14 injured.

Those attacks followed strikes the previous day that killed two people and injured eight in Kramatorsk. In Sloviansk, seven people were injured and five apartment buildings damaged.

Hours after the October 17 attack on Sloviansk, Russian aircraft dropped eight guided bombs on Kherson’s Korabelnyi district in two strikes within an hour. The second strike hit after medics arrived, killing an ambulance driver.

The city military administration reported 22 people injured, including a one-month-old infant and an 11-year-old child. The State Emergency Service said ten apartment buildings were damaged and rescuers pulled seven injured people from the rubble.

Across Kherson Oblast, regional police reported 43 people injured on October 17, including three children, two medics and two rescuers. The previous day, attacks killed one person and injured 16 others, including two children, according to regional governor Oleksandr Prokudin. Those strikes damaged ten apartment buildings, a private house and a supermarket.

In Kharkiv region, which has faced repeated strikes on bridges and towns, Russian forces attacked Kharkiv city and 10 settlements with six missiles, a guided bomb, a Lancet drone, four FPV drones and 142 other drones. The attacks injured 41 people, including a 13-year-old girl and two boys aged 12 and 13. In Kharkiv city, a 71-year-old woman and a 58-year-old man were killed. Four apartment buildings, a dormitory, warehouses and ten cars were damaged.

Russian forces attacked Dnipropetrovsk Oblast almost 20 times, killing one person in Dnipro and injuring four on the city’s outskirts. An industrial enterprise caught fire in Kryvyi Rih.

In Zaporizhzhia Oblast, Russian forces carried out 563 strikes on 57 settlements, including 21 airstrikes and 379 drone attacks, injuring six people.

Sumy Oblast, where Russian bombs recently wounded dozens, came under more than 30 attacks targeting 16 settlements. Eight civilians were injured.

Far from the front, Russian attacks injured six people and damaged civilian and critical infrastructure in Vinnytsia region, according to regional head Natalia Zabolotna. She said air defenses shot down 24 drones. In Rivne region, a strike on an enterprise started a fire and injured two people. In Lutsk, the German-owned Kromberg & Schubert plant halted operations after drone strikes.

A strike on an energy facility in Chernihiv region left nearly 19,000 customers without power. In Odesa region, Russian forces hit a recreation area, damaging holiday homes and cars but causing no casualties, according to Governor Oleh Kiper.

The capital, where drones recently struck a school, came under combined missile and drone attacks from the evening of October 18 into October 19. Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko reported that a 21-year-old woman was killed and five people were injured in Solomianskyi district. A metro station was also damaged. In nearby Irpin, one woman was killed and 19 people were injured, including nine children.

On the diplomatic front, President Donald Trump issued an executive order on October 16 waiving sanctions under the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026, citing the “national interests of the United States.” White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers said, “Enforcing the sanctions provisions now would impede ongoing U.S. efforts” toward a peace deal. Zelensky responded, “This Act could have helped enormously – and still can!”

Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico said Slovakia would not contribute to the €70 billion ($79 billion) in aid Ukraine requested from the EU for 2027. He added that Hungarian Prime Minister Péter Magyar shared that position.

Zelensky also warned that Russia wanted to deploy ballistic missiles in Belarus to strike western Ukraine, saying this would mean “directly dragging Belarus into this war.”