Vance: russia and Ukraine agree to return to talks, but remain “too far apart” on details

Civilian victims of russian strikes on the night of 22 October and on 22 October — per official reports; the data are incomplete and may rise. The reports cover different periods, so they are not added up. No data on casualties from the overnight attack on 23.10 could be read:

• Kyiv, night of 22.10 — 1 killed, 24 wounded (children among the wounded); a ballistic missile strike on residential buildings, energy facilities, railway and metro infrastructure, shopping centres and a monastery (Ukrinform, 22.10 11:02)
• Ukraine as a whole (12 regions), night of 22.10 — 2 killed, 34 wounded (including 5 children) (President Zelensky, via Ukrinform, 22.10 11:02)
• Kyiv, 22.10 — two parishioners wounded near the damaged monastery in Pecherskyi district (Ukrinform headline; details not read)
• Kharkiv, 22.10 — an electric tram was hit; casualties unknown (Ukrinform, 22.10)

21 missiles were fired at Kyiv overnight into 22 October, in three waves from the evening of 21.10, according to Zelensky; three were ballistic missiles with cluster warheads which, he said, hit an area 400 metres across. Ukraine’s Air Force did not give a missile count. One missile struck Pecherskyi district between the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra — the 11th-century monastery complex that is a UNESCO World Heritage site — and the St Vvedensky Monastery; Zelensky said there were no military targets nearby. Residential buildings, energy facilities, a railway station, the metro, a shopping centre and businesses were damaged. According to Ukrinform, 1 person was killed and 24 wounded in Kyiv (the State Emergency Service had reported 22 in the previous issue), and 2 killed and 34 wounded nationwide. These figures are not independently confirmed.

146 combat clashes on 22 October — but this is an incomplete day: the General Staff report as of 22:00 (Ukrinform, 22:25), so it cannot be compared with a full day (187 on 21.10). russia carried out 3 missile strikes and 48 air strikes (167 KAB guided bombs), used 5,983 kamikaze drones and carried out 2,151 shelling attacks. The named directions account for only 47 of the 146 attacks — according to what was read, the report does not break down the rest. The “North Slobozhanskyi” direction name is as retold. Attacks by direction:

• Pokrovsk — 13 (Sofiivka, Vilne, Novyi Donbas, Myrne, Serhiivka, Molodetske)
• North Slobozhanskyi — 11 (Izbytske, Radkivka, Vilkhuvatka)
• Huliaipole — 10
• Kostiantynivka — 6
• Lyman — 5
• Orikhiv — 2
• Kupiansk, Sloviansk, Kramatorsk, Oleksandrivka, Prydniprovskyi — no assaults

russia lost 1,830 personnel in a day, according to Ukraine’s General Staff (as of 08:44 23.10, via Chas News) — fewer than the 2,250 the day before, which Ukrinform called a record (22.10 17:53), and below the previous week’s average (≈1,940). Total personnel losses: 1,574,620; not independently confirmed. Daily increase:

• personnel — +1,830
• tanks — no change (12,439)
• armoured fighting vehicles — +3 (25,597)
• artillery systems — +54 (51,501)
• MLRS — +1 (2,230)
• air-defence systems — +1 (1,720)
• operational-tactical UAVs — +2,067 (577,209)
• vehicles and fuel tankers — +447 (166,088)
• UGVs — +6; special equipment — +5
• aircraft, helicopters, cruise missiles, ships — unchanged

🛡️russia launched 176 attack drones overnight into 23 October — fewer than the night before (210) and below the previous week’s average (≈214); 92 of them were jet-powered Shahed-type drones. 140 were shot down or suppressed (≈80%, against 86% a day earlier), including 68 jet-powered ones. Hits were recorded at 19 locations, the fewest since 12.10, and debris at 13. The text of the Air Force report read (as of 08:00 23.10) does not mention missiles.

🚀The previous night (into 22.10), Air Force as of 09:00: 210 attack drones (Shaheds, Gerberas, Italmas, Parodiya decoys; about 110 jet-powered per fakty.com.ua), 181 shot down or suppressed (87 jet-powered), another 10 still in the air; Iskander-M, Zircon and Oniks missiles used, number not given; 32 hits, debris at 8 locations; the main target was Kyiv. Zelensky spoke of 21 missiles at Kyiv; the Air Force did not confirm this figure in the report read.

💥Electronic warfare station near Gulevka (Bryansk region, russia, on the Ukrainian border), 21–22 October. Ukraine’s General Staff (Facebook, via Ukrinform, 22.10 15:36) reported hitting an electronic warfare station; the same statement lists a command and observation post near Vyshneve (Zaporizhzhia region), a supply depot near Zolotarivka (Luhansk region) and a drone control point near Lankove (Zaporizhzhia). Confirmed by the General Staff. No statements by the Bryansk regional authorities for these dates were found, hence the verdict “silent”; there are no independent images.

local authorities silentLocal authorities (Bryansk region authorities, 21–22.10): no statements about this facility found in the material read

💥Two russian air-defence systems (a Buk-M1 and one other) in the Huliaipole direction, 22 October. Ukraine’s 7th Rapid Response Corps of the Air Assault Forces (Facebook, via Ukrinform, 22.10 12:41) said operators of the 433rd Separate Unmanned Systems Regiment hit both systems, which had been “hunting” Ukrainian aircraft. This is a tactical strike on the front line, not on russian territory. Local authorities were not checked.

local authorities silentLocal authorities (occupation authorities, 22.10): not checked; no statements found

No strikes on russian oil refineries, oil depots or airfields in the past day confirmed by the General Staff, SBU, HUR, SSO or USF were found in the materials read; a search for strike results (“Results of the strike…”) for 22–23.10 found nothing. Site coordinates were not checked (no geo given).

Axios’s assessment, repeated (Barak Ravid, 21.10, citing russian and US officials): Putin’s only visible concession so far is agreeing to negotiate, although the White House had hoped for more after lifting sanctions on russian diesel and other steps Moscow welcomed. Senators John Cornyn and Thom Tillis criticised Witkoff for calling Putin a “humanist”.

unverifiedNo new UK MoD, OHCHR or IAEA assessments were found for 22–23.10. Axios (22.10, exclusive, headline only) reports an image showing a russian satellite coming within less than a mile of a US spacecraft; the article was not read.

🕊️Talks to resume. After Witkoff’s three-hour meeting with Putin in St Petersburg on 21.10 (with Jared Kushner on the line; Witkoff had earlier been in Oslo to meet Zelensky, the leaders of Norway and Finland and representatives of European states and NATO), US Vice-President JD Vance said on 22.10 that both countries had agreed to sit down at the table, but were “too far apart” on the details. According to Axios, Ukraine accepted a technical meeting in Oslo and russia in St Petersburg; according to Zelensky (22.10, Ukrinform 21:15), such teams could meet in the UAE in early November, a venue the US proposed. The final terms are not known.

At a press conference with Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo on 22.10, Zelensky said he would go to the G20 summit in Florida if invited and if he could talk to Trump and Putin there; no invitation has come yet. Secretary of State Marco Rubio earlier announced that the US had invited Putin to the G20, and senators are calling for the invitation to be withdrawn. Orpo said EU gas deals with russia were unacceptable while Moscow wages war.

Zelensky (on the podcast “The Diary of a CEO”, 22.10, via Ukrinform) said Trump had failed to agree an energy ceasefire with Putin, and that rising diesel prices were due, in his view, to the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz rather than to Ukrainian strikes on russian refineries; separately (Ukrinform, 22.10 15:49), he cited more than 170 hits on important energy facilities since 11.10. These are statements by the Ukrainian side.

🕊️ Ukraine and russia. On Truth Social on 21.10 (per Axios), Trump wrote that the US had given nothing in return for the release of Stephen Hubbard, a 74-year-old American held by russia for more than four years: “there was no 'swap' necessary for this release”. Putin announced the release at the start of his meeting with Witkoff.

there was no 'swap' necessary for this release

Iran. No new statements by Trump on Iran for 22–23.10 were found in the materials read (according to Axios, Putin offered to discuss mediating between the US and Iran).

🛰️😏light noteStarlink. Answering reporters on 22.10 (place not given; Ukrinform, 23.10 01:43), Trump did not confirm a WSJ report that he had asked Elon Musk to lift speed limits on Starlink in Ukraine: he said “it was a very interesting situation” and that it did not matter who called — what mattered was that Musk “put it back”. Zelensky said on 22.10 that the limits had not yet been lifted, so “put it back” may be premature. This is based on a Ukrainian retelling; the English original was not read.

US Vice-President JD Vance on 22.10 (Ukrinform, 20:38) said russia and Ukraine had agreed to resume talks and Witkoff was “optimistic”; on Starlink he said: “I don’t think it’s about Elon Musk.”

unverifiedRubio — repeated from 20.10 (Axios, headline only): Trump issued no directives intended to harm Ukraine. China: no statements by Chinese officials were found. According to Axios, Putin wants to discuss a meeting with Trump in China in mid-November; Dmitry Peskov said on 19.10 that there were no concrete proposals for a Putin–Trump–Xi meeting (Ukrainska Pravda, English edition, headline).

🗣️Yuri Ushakov, Putin’s foreign-policy aide, 21.10 (per Axios; details in the previous issue): three-way talks tentatively around 10 November, possibly in Abu Dhabi; the Oslo talks “did not contain much of use”; an earlier meeting, he claimed, had been derailed by Ukrainian strikes on russia on the day of the parliamentary elections. Context: these are the russian side’s words via a US outlet; there is no independent confirmation of the reasons for the cancellation.

🗣️Vladimir Putin, 21.10, St Petersburg (per Axios; details in the previous issue): announced that Hubbard was “at Pulkovo Airport”, “agreed in principle” to resume three-way talks, and wants to discuss mediating between the US and Iran and a possible meeting with Trump in China in mid-November. Context: the following night russia struck Kyiv, and Zelensky called it a sign that Moscow’s position had not changed.