▲ A residential area in Kyiv targeted by a Russian missile attack on October 21.
Russia and Ukraine have exchanged overnight missile and drone strikes targeting each other's capitals, resulting in numerous casualties, including seven deaths in Ukraine alone.
Russia launched two ballistic missile attacks targeting the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv, while Ukraine responded by firing hundreds of drones toward Moscow.
Neither side has slowed its offensive even as US-mediated efforts bring the resumption of three-way peace negotiations into view.
According to Reuters, AFP, and other news outlets on October 22, the Russian military followed up on strikes from the previous evening by launching another missile attack on downtown Kyiv early this morning.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko stated that two areas east of the Dnipro River were hit the previous evening, damaging several homes, a gas station, and transport equipment, and injuring six people.
A subsequent attack early this morning injured 15 people, eight of whom are receiving hospital treatment.
Subway facilities on a southern bridge crossing the Dnipro River were also damaged, leading to restricted traffic in the surrounding area.
The Ukrainian Air Force warned of potential additional attacks and urged residents to remain in shelters.
Fatalities continued to mount outside of Kyiv.
According to Ukrainian authorities, three people were killed in the southeastern region of Zaporizhzhia, two in the eastern Donetsk region, and one each in the northeastern regions of Sumy and Kharkiv.
Four people were also injured in Kharkiv.
Energy infrastructure was also struck by a drone raid in Kremenchuk, a major industrial city in the central Poltava region.
Kremenchuk is home to Ukraine's largest oil refinery.
While missile attacks on Kyiv continued, hundreds of Ukrainian drones were shot down over Moscow.
Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin stated via social media that between 8:30 PM the previous evening and 4:00 AM this morning, 630 drones flew into the airspace around the Moscow region, of which 163 approached Moscow.
Although most of the drones were shot down, two civilians were injured near Moscow.
Seventy drones were shot down in the Tula region, located just south of Moscow.
Local officials reported that some drones broke through air defense networks in Lipetsk, located about 400 kilometers south of Moscow, striking apartment buildings and medical facilities and injuring one person.
The latest mutual attacks between Russia and Ukraine occurred immediately after US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff held successive meetings with the leaders of both countries to resume peace negotiations.
Special Envoy Witkoff met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Oslo, Norway, on October 20, and then met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in St. Petersburg on October 21.
President Zelenskyy stated his support for the US position pushing for a swift resumption of negotiations, and the Kremlin also announced that President Putin had agreed in principle to resume three-way talks.
Following the meeting between Special Envoy Witkoff and President Putin, US President Trump remarked regarding an end to the war that "perhaps this is the closest we have ever been."
(Photo: AP, Yonhap News)
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