Russian shellings killed eight Ukrainians on October 23

Three of the fatalities were victims of Russian artillery shelling: one from Bilozerka and two residents of Kherson city.

Ten people were also wounded in the Kherson region. This figure includes:

• A woman from Beryslav targeted by a Russian drone;
• Two people from a cargo truck who were hit by an explosive dropped from a drone in Kherson;
• A driver from the city’s Korabelnyi District, also struck by an enemy drone.

It also became known that two police officers were wounded on October 22 when Russian forces struck a checkpoint in the Bilozerka hromada where they were on duty.

Material consequences in the region included numerous damaged residential buildings, a synagogue, and civilian infrastructure.

In Kyiv, which was one of Russia’s targets the previous night, a married couple was killed, and 30 people were wounded, including five children.

In the Kharkiv region, Yuriy Chistikov, a squad commander, was killed in a double strike against rescuers. Five of his colleagues were wounded.

Two people were wounded in the Zaporizhzhia Oblast on October 23. A 29-year-old woman and a 43-year-old SES employee were injured in enemy UAV strikes in the Vasylivskyi and Polohivskyi districts.

In the Sumy region, a railway station came under Russian attack, wounding two railway workers. One was hospitalized while the other received on-site medical assistance.

By way of background, he full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine remains the deadliest interstate conflict globally, accounting for 59% of all fatalities in interstate conflicts worldwide.

Previously, the U.S. has announced new sanctions targeting Russia’s two largest oil companies, “Rosneft” and “Lukoil,” in an effort to pressure Moscow to negotiate a peace deal in Ukraine.

The announcement comes one day after US President Donald Trump said a planned meeting with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, in Budapest would be shelved indefinitely.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has stressed that the introduction of the first new sanctions against Russia by President  Trump’s administration should not come as a surprise and does not mean that Washington is abandoning talks with Moscow.

“I think the president has said repeatedly for a number of months now that at some point he will have to do something if we don’t make progress on the peace deal. Today was the day he decided to do something,” Rubio said.

Rubio emphasized that the United States remains open to dialogue with Russia.

On October 23, Putin stated that the new U.S. sanctions are “serious in nature” and will have consequences for Russia, but claimed they would not impact its “economic well-being.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated the next day that, despite Russian claims that the latest sanctions will not affect them, they remain a significant blow to Kremlin leader Putin.

“Even though Russia is now signaling to the world that sanctions supposedly don’t affect its economy, everyone can see the truth: gas station lines inside Russia, bankrupt Russian regions, and Russia’s federal budget deficit. Sanctions remain one of the most painful blows for Putin, personally for him,” he said.

Zelenskyy added that there is political will in Europe to direct frozen Russian assets to provide Ukraine with comprehensive support.

Previously, the Interfax-Ukraine news agency reported that Volodymyr Zelenskyy called on Europe to change the order of the queue for the supply of Patriot air defense systems, as some states do not utilize them in the same manner as Ukraine. He emphasized that Ukraine should receive Patriot systems now, and is ready to return them or replace them later when its turn comes. Zelenskyy also called on partners to focus on the PURL program in November.