Trump promises a Zelensky–Putin meeting “very soon”; Lavrov talks of “escalation”

Civilian casualties of russian strikes on 27 October and overnight into 28 October, as reported by the authorities. The figures are incomplete and may rise; the reports cover different, partly overlapping periods, so they are not added up. No totals for the night of 28.10 could be read:

• Kharkiv and Kharkiv region, 27.10 — 3 killed (two men aged 41 and 60 in Kharkiv, a 74-year-old woman in Shevchenkove), 8 injured (including 1 child; the list of names gives nine, among them a 17-year-old girl with acute stress reaction); strikes on Kharkiv and 12 towns and villages (regional governor Oleh Syniehubov, Facebook, via LB.ua 09:38 27.10)
• Donetsk region, 27.10 — 2 killed (one each in Novodonetske and Iverske), 3 injured (Iverske — 1, Sloviansk — 2) (regional governor Vadym Filashkin, Telegram, via RegioNews 09:20 28.10)
• Kyiv, night of 27.10 (attack began on the evening of 26.10) — 1 killed (a 46-year-old woman), 16 injured, all adults, 9 hospitalised (Kyiv City Administration health department, as of 12:30 27.10, via Suspilne); ballistic missiles and drones; a campus, homes, a metro station and the Southern Bridge damaged
• Kharkiv, 28.10 — 4 injured, including a child, after a strike on a residential building (Ukrainska Pravda, headline only; details not read)
• Kupiansk area (Hrushivka), 27.10 — two elderly women hospitalised after an FPV drone strike (Suspilne Kharkiv); Derhachi, 27.10 — people injured (Suspilne Kharkiv)

Kharkiv region, 27 October: three killed and eight injured, including a child (the list of names gives nine). russia struck Kharkiv — Ukraine’s second-largest city, some 30 km from the russian border — and 12 towns and villages in the region with 3 MLRS rockets, 1 KAB glide bomb, 4 Geran-2 (Shahed-type) drones, 3 FPV drones and 111 drones of unidentified type. Apartment blocks, a children’s facility, businesses and power lines were damaged. The evacuation transit point in Lozova took in 151 people in a day (regional governor Oleh Syniehubov, via LB.ua, 09:38).

Kyiv, night of 27 October — an update to yesterday’s issue: 16 injured, not 14, all adults; 9 hospitalised (5 in serious and 4 in moderate condition). A 46-year-old woman was killed. Among the injured are residents of a student hostel and two paramedics from an ambulance crew that was on a call. Six districts were hit — Desnianskyi, Dniprovskyi (on the evening of 26.10), Holosiivskyi, Darnytskyi, Obolonskyi and Podilskyi — and the Southern Bridge over the Dnipro was damaged. Zelensky spoke of 16 ballistic missiles and over 280 drones that night; the Air Force reported 257 targets shot down or suppressed and hits at 25 locations (Suspilne, updated 14:52 27.10).

191 combat clashes in 24 hours — 5 fewer than the day before (196) but above the previous week’s average (~182), according to Ukraine’s General Staff (operational update as of 08:00 28.10; the evening report at 22:26 on 27.10 gave 178). The fiercest fighting is on the Pokrovsk direction in Donetsk region: 32 assaults, 39% of those on the named directions. russia carried out 3 missile strikes and 68 air strikes with 258 KAB glide bombs (weekly average 244), used 9,654 kamikaze drones (10% above average) and carried out 2,535 shelling attacks (35 with MLRS). The named directions account for only 83 of the 191 clashes; another 37 shelling attacks on the North Slobozhanskyi/Kursk directions involved no assaults. Assaults by direction:

• Pokrovsk — 32
• Huliaipole — 17
• Kostiantynivka — 15
• Lyman — 6
• South Slobozhanskyi — 5
• Kupiansk, Kramatorsk — 3 each
• Sloviansk — 2
• Oleksandrivka, Orikhiv and Prydniprovskyi — no assaults

1,510 russian troops in 24 hours — 19% below the previous week’s average (~1,870) and the second-lowest figure since 13.10, after the previous day’s 1,400. This is the estimate of Ukraine’s General Staff (Ukrinform, 28.10 07:41), with no independent confirmation. Total since 24.02.2022: about 1,583,350. Daily increase:

• Personnel — 1,510
• Tanks — 0 (total 12,448)
• Armoured fighting vehicles — 0 (total 25,609)
• Artillery systems — 21 (total 51,674)
• MLRS — 0, air defence systems — 0
• Operational-tactical drones — 1,543
• Vehicles and fuel tankers — 266
• UGVs — 7; cruise missiles — 2

88 attack drones and 1 ballistic missile overnight into 28 October — the fewest since 13.10 (72), half the previous week’s average (~182) and a third of the night before (280 drones plus ballistic missiles). 38 of the drones were jet-powered; Shaheds, Banderol S-8000/Dan-T, Gerbera and Parodiya decoys were not counted separately; the Iskander-M/S-400 missile was launched from Taganrog. By 08:00, 71 drones had been shot down or suppressed (81%, against 91% the night before); the report does not say what happened to the missile. Hits at 8 locations (weekly average 21), debris at 2. The attack was still under way at 08:00 (Ukraine’s Air Force).

Over 100 ballistic missiles in two weeks — on average at least 7 a day — have been fired by russia at Kyiv and the surrounding region, Zelensky said in his evening address on 27.10 (Ukrinform, 20:56). He urged partners to deliver Patriot systems on time and the Pentagon to approve missile deliveries. The day before, Zelensky said Ukraine had been waiting almost a month for US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth to sign off on missiles for its Patriot and NASAMS air-defence systems (as linked by Ukrinform; the text itself was not read).

💥unverified📏 350 km from Ukrainian-held territory ≈Novomoskovsk (Tula region, south of Moscow), night of 28 October: drones attacked the Novomoskovsk Azot chemical plant, a major russian producer of ammonia and nitrogen fertiliser, and a fire broke out, probably in an ammonia production unit (unconfirmed; Censor.NET, 07:38, citing the Telegram channel Exilenova+, and Novyny.LIVE, 07:31). Governor Dmitry Milyaev confirmed an attack on the region and said drone debris had damaged facilities in an industrial zone, without naming the site (verdict: “partial”). Ukraine’s General Staff, the SBU, HUR military intelligence, the Special Operations Forces and the USF had not confirmed the strike by the time of publication, so it is marked unverified. Bottom line: the local authorities acknowledge the attack, but what was hit, and whether Ukraine claims it, is unknown. russia’s MoD claimed to have shot down 531 Ukrainian drones over 13 regions overnight (VZGLYAD).

local authorities: indirectLocal authorities (Tula region governor Dmitry Milyaev, 28.10): confirmed the attack; drone debris damaged facilities in an industrial zone; the site was not named

✈️unverified📏 285 km from Ukrainian-held territory ≈Lipetsk (a regional capital south of Moscow), evening of 27 October — night of 28 October: air defences engaged jet-powered drones; there are reports of hits and a fire near the military airfield and near NLMK, the Novolipetsk steelworks, one of russia’s largest — according to Obozrevatel (00:21) and Slovo i Dilo, citing Exilenova+ and russian channels. Whether the airfield itself was on fire is unconfirmed; the fire near NLMK may have been caused by air-defence fire or a falling object. No Ukrainian body has confirmed the strike. Governor Igor Artamonov, as retold by Novyny.LIVE, only declared a missile alert; no statement on the consequences was found (verdict: “silent”). Ukraine’s General Staff has confirmed earlier strikes on this airfield — that is background, not confirmation of this strike.

local authorities silentLocal authorities (Governor of Lipetsk region Igor Artamonov, 28.10): declared a missile alert; no statement on the consequences found

💥Depots, equipment and troops in the occupied territories, 26 October and the night of 27 October — according to Ukraine’s General Staff (Telegram, via ArmyInform, 27.10 15:42). Hit: ammunition depots near Diakove (Luhansk region) and Ohorodne (Donetsk region); a concentration of weapons and equipment near Krasnohorivka (Donetsk region); supply depots in the Luhansk, Antratsyt and Tymonove areas (Luhansk region); troop concentrations near Lahidne and Antratsyt (Luhansk region) and Novopetrivka (Zaporizhzhia region). There is no independent confirmation or damage assessment; no statements by the occupation authorities for that date were found in the material read. The 08:00 28.10 report also mentions a strike by missile troops and artillery on a drone control post.

local authorities silentLocal authorities (occupation authorities, 26–27.10): no statements on these sites found (only a limited search was made)

unverifiedAxios (27.10), headline and teaser only: experts say a possible Trump–Xi Jinping–Putin meeting on nuclear weapons would be unprecedented but unlikely to produce an arms-control breakthrough. The article itself could not be read (loading error).

unverifiedAxios (27.10), headline only: a US commander says North Korean troops are gaining “experience” in the war against Ukraine. The article could not be read.

UN monitors (OHCHR/HRMMU): no monthly report since September’s (15.10). In September the mission verified at least 328 civilians killed and 2,105 injured — the highest September toll since the full-scale invasion began. No new estimates of recruitment into the russian army noticed.

🕊️Zelensky said in his evening address on 27.10 that he expects a trilateral format — Ukrainian, American and russian representatives — in November, and insists that Europe take part in every diplomatic step (Kyiv Post, 28.10). He spoke after Putin’s call that day with Finnish President Alexander Stubb and Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre. What is being prepared is talks between negotiating teams, not a presidents’ summit; Moscow points to 11–20 November, and Putin’s aide Yuri Ushakov to Abu Dhabi.

No one should be left out of the process

🤝Background (covered in detail on 22.10): on 21 October in St Petersburg Putin received US special envoy Steve Witkoff (their ninth meeting, according to Ushakov) and confirmed he was ready to resume trilateral talks in mid-November; Ushakov said “things are heading towards an end to the conflict” (claimed by russia; as retold by snob.ru). The day before, on 20.10, Witkoff was in Oslo, where Zelensky discussed security guarantees with Trump’s envoys (Axios).

🕊️ Ukraine and russia. Trump told reporters on 28 October, after stepping off Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, that a Zelensky–Putin meeting would be set up very soon and that “a lot of progress” was being made on russia–Ukraine. He named no date or venue; neither Kyiv nor Moscow has publicly confirmed such a meeting. On 25.10 he likewise promised trilateral talks “very soon”. The US midterm elections are six days away, on 3 November.

There’ll be a meeting set up very soon.

💣 Iran. Trump told a rally in Mississippi on Monday, 26 October, that the US did not start the war with Iran — Iran did (according to Fox News). According to headlines from CNBC (28.10) and Al Jazeera (27.10), he also said the war would end whenever he wanted it to (its cost has reportedly reached $47bn) and that after the elections anything was possible regarding a strike; the articles themselves could not be read — headlines only.

We didn’t start the war with Iran. Iran started the war with us.

🌐unverifiedrussia and China. No statements by Trump on the subject were found in the material read; Axios (27.10) merely analyses a possible Trump–Xi–Putin meeting on nuclear weapons (“if it happens”). The light-hearted “fun” item is skipped: no verifiable episode was found.

unverifiedUS: no official response to Zelensky’s claim that Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has for almost a month not signed off on missiles for Patriot and NASAMS. China: no statements on the war by officials were found for the past day in the material read.

🗣️“This war will continue” and even “tends to escalate”, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on 27 October in Moscow at a meeting with heads of African media, blaming the West and an “information war against russia”. He called European leaders’ initiative to talk to Putin an attempt to “squeeze into” the negotiations; the call was initiated by the president of Finland and the prime minister of Norway (according to Gordon, in Ukrainian translation).

🗣️The date of the trilateral talks with the US and Ukraine will be announced “in due course” — that is all Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told RIA Novosti on 27 October. Ushakov had earlier named Abu Dhabi and mid-November. In the material read, the Kremlin had not yet responded to Trump’s 28.10 remarks about a leaders’ meeting.

🗣️unverified Ukraine and russia must solve the problem themselves, with the US able to help, and “in my view” there is a chance of a settlement — Putin said, according to the rosgovinform aggregator. The date and place of the remarks are unconfirmed; this is the aggregator’s retelling, and the primary source has not been checked.