Russian strikes kill four in Dnipropetrovsk region, Zelensky says, as he presses for Patriot interceptors; Russian officials report three dead in Bryansk and Belgorod

Neither side’s battlefield claims can be independently confirmed.

Russian attacks on Dnipropetrovsk region on Saturday evening, 24 October, killed four people and injured 22, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Telegram on Sunday. He said damage was reported in nine regions, and that targets included homes, a hypermarket, thermal power plants, substations, coal mines and grain stores, ABC News reported.

Ukraine’s air force said Russia launched 153 drones and an unspecified number of cruise missiles overnight, and that 119 drones were shot down or suppressed. The State Emergency Service said 10 people, including three emergency workers, were injured in Kharkiv and Vinnytsia regions, and that a fire tanker was destroyed while crews were responding.

Zelensky said Russia had fired about 1,600 guided aerial bombs, 48 missiles and nearly 2,300 attack drones at Ukraine over the past week. “We need to unblock the already agreed-upon deliveries of interceptors for Patriot systems,” he wrote.

In Russia, Bryansk regional head Yegor Kovalchuk said a Ukrainian drone hit a farm company’s minibus in the village of Borshchovo, killing two people. Belgorod Governor Alexander Shuvaev said one person was killed and 14 injured in an overnight drone attack, Anadolu Agency reported. Russia’s Defence Ministry said its air defences destroyed 532 Ukrainian drones overnight and that its forces struck logistics centres in Kharkiv and a cargo ship heading for the port of Chornomorsk.

Background: Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The US-made Patriot is Ukraine’s main defence against ballistic missiles. Zelensky told ABC News last week that Ukraine needs about 350 Patriot interceptors a month and had received 24 in the past three months. US envoy Steve Witkoff met Zelensky in Oslo and Russian President Vladimir Putin in St Petersburg last week, and new US-Ukraine-Russia talks are expected in the United Arab Emirates in November, ABC News reported.