Russia Fired More Than 8,700 Drones at Ukraine in October as Guided Bombs Hit Sloviansk and Izium After the Oleshky Truce

Sloviansk railway station in Ukraine's Donetsk region (file photo). Photo: Petrisheff, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0.

Russia launched more than 4,000 jet-powered drones and 4,740 conventional Shahed, Gerbera and Parodiya drones at Ukraine in October, along with about 150 ballistic missiles and 80 cruise and air-launched missiles, Ukrainian Air Force spokesman Yurii Ihnat said Monday, Ukrainska Pravda reported. That adds up to more than 8,700 drones in a single month, by The Boston Report’s calculation. “We are, of course, short of interceptors for Patriot systems,” Ihnat said, referring to PAC-3 missiles.

Key figures: 8,740+ russian drones launched in october (tbr calc.) · 193 drones launched overnight into nov. 2 · 2 killed in sloviansk and izium bombings

The barrage continued as a six-day local ceasefire around occupied Oleshky ended. Russia launched 193 strike and decoy drones, 75 of them jet-powered Shahed types, from 6 p.m. Sunday, and air defenses shot down or suppressed 154, including 58 of the jet drones, the Air Force said, according to Ukrinform. The drones were launched from Russia’s Oryol, Kursk and Bryansk regions, occupied Donetsk and Hvardiiske in occupied Crimea. Hits were recorded at 26 locations, and debris fell at nine more.

Bombs hit Sloviansk and Izium

Russian aircraft dropped two FAB-250 bombs on central Sloviansk at about 10 a.m. Monday, killing a 68-year-old woman and injuring six people, said Vadym Liakh, head of the city’s military administration, Ukrainska Pravda reported. Nine high-rise buildings, a postal building, a medical facility, a shop and cars were damaged.

In Izium, guided aerial bombs struck around 9 a.m., destroying the first three floors of a five-story apartment building and hitting a four-story residential building, said Kharkiv regional governor Oleh Syniehubov. One person was killed and the number of injured rose to 11, including an 11-year-old boy treated for acute stress, Ukrinform reported. Elsewhere in the Kharkiv region, four women were hospitalized after an attack on Chuhuiv and two people were hurt in Prymorske, where nine houses were damaged, Ukrainska Pravda reported. Twelve people, including a child, were injured when drones struck Vasyshcheve on Sunday evening, according to Ukrinform.

In the Sumy region, a Russian drone attack destroyed a house, killing a man and severely injuring his wife, regional governor Oleh Hryhorov said, Ukrainska Pravda reported. In Kherson, a drone hit a medical facility in the city center at about 7:40 a.m., blowing out windows, with no injuries reported, said city military administration head Yaroslav Shanko, according to Ukrainska Pravda.

Russia attacked Ukraine’s energy and oil and gas sector 94 times from Oct. 26 to Nov. 1, causing 208 incidents of damage, First Deputy Energy Minister Artem Nekrasov said, Ukrainska Pravda reported. Emergency power outages were in place in several regions Monday, with Kyiv and Dnipropetrovsk regions hit hardest.

Strikes inside Russia

Ukrainian drones reportedly struck the Samara Linear Production and Dispatch Station in Prosvet, a major oil pipeline node about 835 kilometers (520 miles) northeast of Ukraine’s border, according to Ukrainian monitoring channels cited by The Kyiv Independent, which said it could not independently verify the targets or damage. Russia’s Defense Ministry said its forces struck Ukrainian drone assembly and storage sites, energy and transport facilities and troop areas in 142 locations over 24 hours, TASS reported !Unverified claim, TASS (Russian state media). Ukraine’s General Staff put Russian losses over the past day at 2,500 troops killed or wounded, for a total of about 1,592,770 since February 2022, Ukrinform reported. Neither side’s casualty claims can be independently verified.

The Oleshky truce ends

The ceasefire around Oleshky ran from 3 a.m. Oct. 27 to 10:59 p.m. Nov. 1. U.S. first lady Melania Trump, who brokered it, said the mission delivered aid and enabled “the evacuation of nearly 800 people,” Anadolu Agency reported. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov called the operation “successful” but said “there are no similar plans yet, nor are there any similar initiatives,” according to Anadolu. Russia’s human rights commissioner, Yana Lantratova, said she and her Ukrainian counterpart, Dmytro Lubinets, agreed that aid missions would be conducted “at least once a month,” TASS reported !Unverified claim, TASS (Russian state media). Ukraine’s General Staff said Russian troops used the pause to fortify their positions, Ukrinform reported. The truce’s start is covered in our earlier Oleshky ceasefire report.

Talks, gas and Patriots

President Volodymyr Zelensky told Fox News that Ukraine would halt strikes on Russian refineries if Russia stopped attacking Ukraine’s energy system or if the United States supplied Patriot missiles. “Give us Patriot missiles, we will find money, not just aid,” he said, Ukrainska Pravda reported. Washington approved a $2.1 billion PAC-3 sale last week, as we reported. Zelensky also told CNN Turk he was ready to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in Turkey, ahead of expected technical-level talks among Ukraine, Russia and the United States in Abu Dhabi later in November, The Kyiv Independent reported.

U.S. envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff floated selling Russian gas to Europe through a U.S. intermediary via Ukraine, The Wall Street Journal reported, according to Ukrainska Pravda. Peskov said such transit was “hardly possible” for now, TASS reported !Unverified claim, TASS (Russian state media).

Across the region, Russia formally left the Council of Europe’s anti-torture convention on Nov. 1, which the committee’s president, Alan Mitchell, said “marks the end of any independent monitoring” of detention sites in Russia, The Kyiv Independent reported. Latvia’s military warned of a threat after a flying object briefly entered its airspace near Kraslava and Ludza, The Kyiv Independent reported, and Poland said it is converting a territorial defense brigade into a unit to defend its border with Russia’s Kaliningrad region by the end of 2026, Ukrainska Pravda reported. Hacks of both countries’ emergency alert apps are covered in today’s information war report.

By the numbers

Ihnat also said Russia used nearly 360 Banderol/Dan-T cruise missiles launched from drones in October. The October totals he gave break down as follows. The Boston Report added the two drone categories; because the jet-drone figure is “more than 4,000,” the combined total is a minimum. The figures come from one party to the war and could not be independently verified. Monthly trends are tracked on our Ukraine war tracker.

Watch for Russian damage reports from Samara, any new humanitarian mission to Oleshky and the Abu Dhabi technical talks.

Sources

• Ukrainska Pravda: Russia launched over 4,000 jet-powered drones and around 150 ballistic missiles against Ukraine in October
• Ukrinform: Air defenses down 154 out of 193 drones used by Russia to attack Ukraine since evening
• Ukrainska Pravda: One killed and six injured in Russian aerial bomb strike on centre of Sloviansk – photos
• Ukrinform: Attack on Izium leaves one dead and 11 injured, damaging homes and stores
• Ukrainska Pravda: Russians attack Chuhuiv and Prymorske in Kharkiv Oblast: seven injured
• Ukrinform: Injury toll from Russian attack on Vasyshcheve in Kharkiv region rises to 12
• Ukrainska Pravda: Russian drone attack on Sumy Oblast kills man and injures his wife
• Ukrainska Pravda: Russians strike hospital in Kherson with drone following end of ceasefire – video
• Ukrainska Pravda: Russia attacked Ukraine's energy 94 times in a single week
• The Kyiv Independent: Ukrainian forces reportedly strike oil facility in Russia's Samara Oblast in overnight attack
• TASS: Russian forces strike Ukrainian UAV assembly, storage sites in past day — top brass
• Ukrinform: Russia's war casualty toll in Ukraine up by 2,500 over past day
• Anadolu Agency: US first lady announces successful conclusion of Oleshky ceasefire after nearly 800 people evacuated
• Anadolu Agency: Kremlin says US-brokered ceasefire in Oleshky was 'successful'
• TASS: Russian, Ukrainian ombudspersons agree to monthly aid missions to Alyoshki — official
• Ukrinform: Russia used humanitarian pause in Oleshky to fortify its positions – General Staff
• Ukrainska Pravda: Zelenskyy: Ukraine will halt strikes on Russian refineries if US provides interceptors
• The Kyiv Independent: Zelensky says he's ready to meet Putin in Turkey
• Ukrainska Pravda: WSJ: US pushes to resume Russian gas supplies to Europe via Ukraine
• TASS: It is hardly possible to talk now about Russian gas transit to EU — Kremlin
• The Kyiv Independent: Russia formally leaves Council of Europe's anti-torture convention
• The Kyiv Independent: 'Suspicious object' enters Latvian airspace near Belarus, Russia border
• Ukrainska Pravda: Poland creates a military brigade for defence on the border with Russia

Additional sources

• TASS: Nearly 50 Ukrainian drones taken down over Russian regions during day
• Ukrinform: Lubinets announces end of ceasefire in Oleshky