The drone warfare reached a new level on Oct. 19, when Ukrainian UAVs attacked the Kremniy El microelectronics plant in Bryansk and targets in St. Petersburg itself, causing power outages. Russian retaliatory strikes focused on the civilian infrastructure of Shostka and Zaporizhzhia, where cluster and fragmentation bombs injured dozens of people, including children. France declared full support for Ukraine's strategic plan and pledged to deliver Mirage 2000 fighter jets by early 2025, and the IMF approved a $1.1 billion tranche of financial support. 

The week ended with a massive airstrike campaign in which Russia launched 49 drones, one of which was shot down over Belarusian territory, forcing the Belarusian air force to respond. 

On Oct. 20, the body of Dmitry Golenkov, the Russian pilot responsible for the Kremenchuk and Dnipro massacres, was found in the Bryansk region. He had been killed with a hammer in what Ukrainian intelligence described as an act of justice for attacks on civilian targets.

On Oct. 22, the fighting for Chasiv Yar entered a new phase when Russian infantry groups managed to break through the Donets-Donbas canal line and enter the southern outskirts of the city, although their attempts to permanently fortify were effectively blocked by Ukrainian drones. In the Donetsk region, the dropping of a KAB-250 bomb on an apartment block in Myrnohrad had tragic consequences, and in the Sumy region, drone strikes claimed the lives of three people, including a child. Ukraine responded with precision drone strikes deep into Russian territory, hitting three alcohol distilleries in the Tula and Voronezh regions, which served as a base for the fuel and chemical industries. On the diplomatic front, the European Parliament and the United Kingdom finalized loan mechanisms based on profits from frozen Russian assets, which would provide Ukraine with billions of euros to repay debts and purchase weapons. Against the backdrop of these events, President Zelenskyy brought about the resignation of Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin and announced the liquidation of the Medical Examination Commission (MSEC) by the end of the year, which was a reaction to the massive corruption practices of issuing false disability certificates to officials who avoided mobilization.

On Oct. 25, a Russian drone struck a residential high-rise building in Kyiv, killing a teenage girl, which was met with an immediate response in the form of the destruction of a Russian Buk-M2 radar station in the Luhansk region by Ukrainian UAV forces. Military intelligence warned that the first clashes involving North Korea's "K Battalion" could occur as early as Oct. 27, as Russia had arranged special coordination groups with interpreters for them. 

The last weekend of October brought a tragic missile attack on Dnipro, where Russian Iskander-M/KN-23 ballistic missiles hit, among others, residential buildings and the Mechnikov hospital, killing five people. On the land front, the ISW confirmed the aggressor's advances in the area of Pokrovsk and Vuhledar, indicating the probable capture of the localities of Hirnyk and Oleksandropil. 

Analyses based on data from DeepState and intelligence agencies showed that the Russian army had seized almost 200 sqkm of territory in a week, marking the fastest pace of advance since early 2024. In Kharkiv, a Russian aerial bomb severely damaged the Derzhprom building, a symbol of constructivism protected by UNESCO, triggering a wave of international condemnation. On the international arena, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte officially confirmed the presence of North Korean troops in the Kursk region, calling it a "dangerous expansion of the war". 

On Oct. 29, the Russian Ministry of Defence officially announced the full seizure of Selydove, which was confirmed by independent geolocation sources. The fall of the city and neighbouring Hirnyk created a direct threat of encirclement for Ukrainian forces defending the Kurakhove region. Ukrainian drones carried out an unprecedented attack in Chechen territory, hitting the University of Special Forces in Gudermes, which Ramzan Kadyrov was forced to admit publicly. 

The tragedy in Kharkiv, where on Oct. 30 a FAB-500 bomb hit a nine-story apartment building, killing three civilians, including children, became another symbol of the lack of protection against Russian tactical aircraft. At the same time, the Pentagon and South Korean intelligence estimated the number of North Korean troops in Russia at 10,000, most of whom were already in the border area. The US declared that in the event of direct Korean participation in the fighting, no new restrictions would be imposed on the Ukrainian Armed Forces' use of American weapons. A group of Republicans launched an initiative in the US Congress calling on President Biden to allow Poland to shoot down Russian missiles over western Ukraine, which would relieve Ukrainian point defences.

The end of the month brought a record number of clashes. The General Staff of Ukraine recorded as many as 170 skirmishes in one day, the heaviest of which took place in the Kurakhove and Pokrovsk directions. October ended with a balance of extremely high losses on both sides and a new, global dimension of the conflict resulting from the entry of a third country into the war.

Illustrative photo/AI generated