Synelnykove drone strike: death toll rises to four, an 11-year-old girl among the wounded

Civilian casualties of russian strikes on 24–25 October and overnight into 26 October, as reported by the authorities (regional military administrations, State Emergency Service, Zelensky; via Espreso, Glavcom, TSN). The figures are incomplete and may rise. The Air Force did not report casualties from the overnight attack on 26.10:

• Nova Vodolaha (a town 40 km south-west of Kharkiv), 19.10 — 6 killed (3 of them children), 15 wounded (7 of them children); a drone hit the central park (Kharkiv RMA figures as of 19.10, 18:22; this issue did not look for newer ones)
• Synelnykove (Dnipropetrovsk region), 24.10 — 4 killed (the fourth died in hospital), 15 wounded according to the State Emergency Service for the region (Zelensky: 22), 1 of them a child (an 11-year-old girl); a drone hit a block of flats
• Kherson, 25.10 — 1 killed (a 67-year-old man who died in hospital), 5 wounded; a drone hit a minibus at around 15:11
• Kharkiv, 25.10 (evening) — 0 killed, 4 wounded (3 of them rescuers); drones, repeat strikes on emergency services
• Vinnytsia, 25.10 (early morning) — 0 killed, 6 wounded (1 hospitalised); a drone hit a five-storey block of flats
• Poltava, 25.10 — 0 killed, 1 woman wounded (aged 52, preliminary)

A 62-year-old man died in hospital, the fourth fatality (Espreso, 25.10). The drone hit a block of flats in Synelnykove, a town in Dnipropetrovsk region near Dnipro, on the evening of 24 October, damaging the building, a shop and cars and setting the fourth floor on fire. Oleksandr Hanzha, head of the regional military administration (RMA), first reported (Telegram, 20:15) at least 3 dead and 8 wounded, including an 11-year-old girl; doctors described a 50-year-old woman and a 70-year-old man as in a serious condition. The State Emergency Service now counts 15 wounded in the region, Zelensky 22 (see Source divergences). No day of mourning was announced in the material read.

Nova Vodolaha, a town 40 km south-west of Kharkiv, 19 October: a drone hit the central park, killing 6, including 3 children, and wounding 15, 7 of them children (Kharkiv region governor Oleh Syniehubov, 19.10, 18:22). Interior Minister Ivan Vyhivskyi said the strike on children served no military purpose. This issue found no later toll.

177 combat clashes on 25 October (General Staff, as of 08:00 26.10). The heaviest fighting was on the Pokrovsk direction in Donetsk region: 36 assaults, the most since 16.10. russia carried out 64 airstrikes with 224 KAB guided bombs, used 9,296 kamikaze drones and shelled Ukrainian positions and towns 2,451 times. The named directions account for only 81 of the 177 assaults; the rest are not broken down in the summary read. Assaults by direction:

• Pokrovsk — 36
• Huliaipole — 13
• Kostiantynivka — 12
• South Slobozhanskyi — 8
• Lyman — 8
• North Slobozhanskyi — 3
• Kramatorsk — 1
• Kupiansk, Sloviansk, Oleksandrivka, Orikhiv and Prydniprovskyi — no active fighting

~1,990 russian troops lost in a day — up from 1,850 the day before, according to Ukraine’s General Staff (Ukrinform, 26.10 07:50); ~1,580,440 in total since 24.02.2022. Only 18 artillery systems, the fewest since 16.10. There is no independent confirmation and the figures are being updated. By category:

• Tanks — +1 (12,448 in total)
• Armoured fighting vehicles — +4 (25,609)
• Artillery systems — +18 (51,632)
• MLRS — +2 (2,239)
• Air-defence systems — +1 (1,726)
• Operational-tactical UAVs — +1,656 (582,458)
• Vehicles and fuel tankers — +322 (167,240)
• UGVs — +1 (3,018); special equipment — +2 (4,858)

🚀140 attack drones and 4 missiles overnight into 26 October — 22% below the previous week’s average (~184). Half the drones, 70, were jet-powered Shaheds, the Iranian-designed attack drones russia now builds itself; the rest included Gerbera and Parodiya decoys. The missiles were one Kh-31P anti-radar missile and three Kh-59/69 air-launched guided missiles. 115 targets (80%) were shot down or suppressed: 112 drones and 3 Kh-59/69s. Hits were recorded at 15 locations and falling debris at 4. The Air Force report (as of 08:00) did not say what was hit or whether anyone was hurt; the attack was still going on.

💥unverifiedOn 25 October russian strikes hit nine regions, according to Zelensky (via Espreso): people were killed or wounded in Dnipropetrovsk and Kherson regions, and there was damage in Vinnytsia, Kharkiv and Poltava; in Zaporizhzhia an Epicentr hardware store was reportedly hit. Official sources in the material read give no tally of damage to infrastructure.

💥Ukraine’s General Staff says it hit two radar stations near Gostishchevo and Kurgannoye in russia’s Belgorod region, which borders Kharkiv region, on 24–25 October (25.10, 11:06, via LB.ua). It says the strikes punch gaps in russia’s radar coverage and open the way for Ukrainian drones. Also hit, according to the General Staff: a unit command post near Tarasivka (Zaporizhzhia region), a command and observation post near Hola Prystan (Kherson region) and troop concentrations near Mykolaivka and Novoukrainka (Donetsk region), Berdiansk, Okhrimivka and Tarasivka. The only confirmation is the General Staff’s own: Belgorod regional authorities made no statement about the radars (none found in the material read), and there are no independent images.

local authorities silentLocal authorities (Belgorod regional authorities, 24–25.10): no statements about the radar strikes found (checked by search)

🔥unverified📏 2,440 km from Ukrainian-held territory ≈Omsk, a city in western Siberia, evening of 24 October: according to Radio Svoboda and Dzerkalo Tyzhnia, drones attacked the Omsky Kauchuk petrochemical plant and a logistics hub of Ozon, one of russia’s largest online retailers, setting off large fires. Ozon confirmed the attack and the evacuation of staff. Omsk governor Vitaly Khotsenko said air defences were repelling the attack and that drones had reached the city’s northern industrial zone, without naming the target. The strike is unconfirmed: it is attributed to Ukrainian drones only by the Exilenova+ Telegram channel, and neither the General Staff nor the SBU, HUR, SSO or USF has claimed it in the material read. Drones last hit the Omsk oil refinery on 8–9 October.

local authorities: indirectLocal authorities (Omsk region governor Vitaly Khotsenko, 24.10): air defences are repelling an enemy drone attack, drones reached the northern industrial zone; emergency services are on site; the target was not named

The latest UN figures are for September: the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine (HRMMU, OHCHR) verified at least 328 civilians killed and 2,105 wounded, the worst September since the full-scale invasion began (September 2025: 249 and 1,068; report of 15.10). No newer report was found. These are minimums: the mission counts only cases it has verified.

unverifiedElon Musk may have personally ordered the restrictions on Starshield, the military version of Starlink used by Ukraine’s armed forces, the WSJ reports, citing US officials (as retold by LB.ua, 25.10). According to an Axios headline (24.10), Ukraine’s Ministry of Defence says the Starlink speed limits have been lifted; Zelensky first confirmed the restrictions and later said speeds had been restored. Trump had earlier spoken of access being fully restored. The WSJ and Axios originals were not read.

🕊️In an interview with ABC News (as retold by Censor.NET, 24.10), Zelensky said Ukraine is ready to freeze the war along the current front line, but will not give up 25% of its territory (in effect all of the Donbas) and will not legally recognise the occupied lands as russian. Over 90 days Ukraine received 24 Patriot interceptors from a strategic partner, he said, and the Starlink restrictions were still in place at the time of the interview. The outlet did not give the date or place of the interview.

Yes, we are ready to end this war as soon as possible. To freeze the conflict along the front line right now.

🤝unverifiedNobody has yet confirmed a date for three-way talks between russia, the US and Ukraine. According to Fontanka (25.10), the next round is planned for the first half of November in Abu Dhabi, without the Europeans. The process restarted on 21.10, when, according to Axios (only the headline and summary were read), Putin agreed “in principle” in a conversation with US envoy Steve Witkoff to resume three-way talks, and russia freed a detained American. russian officials’ wording differs (see Source divergences).

🛰️unverified Ukraine, russia, Musk. Trump confirmed to reporters that he had spoken with Elon Musk about Ukraine, but gave no details. After voting at a polling station in Palm Beach, Florida, he also said the US would do business with both Ukraine and russia after the war. This account contains no concrete steps on sanctions or talks. Source: LB.ua’s retelling (25.10, 00:01) of the Clash Report Telegram channel; the English original was not read.

⚖️ Iran. On Fox News on Sunday (25.10) Trump said he had to “make a decision” on Iran; outside the White House he told reporters there would be “no strike today”. According to The National, talks have stalled, while the US has sent a third carrier strike group to the Gulf and is drawing down staff in the region. Earlier statements said there would be no strike before the 3 November elections (the date of that statement is not given).

I have a decision to make: Do I finish it off, which would be very easy to do, or do I make a deal?

unverifiedNo new statements on the war by US officials (other than Trump) or by China were found in the material read for the past day. The latest found (headlines only): Secretary of State Rubio called the talks with Ukraine “positive” (21.10, Al Arabiya/Malay Mail); there is no data on statements by Beijing.

🗣️unverifiedTalks only “after 4 November”: that was the message on 25 October from Yuri Ushakov, Putin’s foreign-policy aide (via RIA Novy Den and Ukraina.ru). He called 4 November — russia’s National Unity Day — “our big holiday” and the date “another deadline”; the first round, he said, would be a “range-finding” one. Ushakov also said the US should not talk to Kyiv alone — “one must talk to the whole of Europe” — and accused Kyiv of wrecking an earlier arrangement after russia’s September State Duma elections. moscow’s dates do not match: Putin named mid-November in his conversation with Witkoff on 21.10, Peskov the first half of November in Abu Dhabi. The following night russia launched 140 drones and 4 missiles at Ukraine.

🗣️unverifiedThe kremlin would welcome a single EU negotiator if that person “sincerely” sought a peaceful settlement, Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on 25 October (via Fontanka). Asked about Finland’s President Alexander Stubb as a possible candidate, he said: “it is good if there is a negotiator, and even better if he is sincerely interested in peace”. Peskov criticised Brussels for taking no concrete steps. Fontanka also lists Italy’s Giorgia Meloni and Czech President Petr Pavel among the candidates; the EU has not decided.