Russia carried out several attacks on Ukrainian cities late on October 18 using guided bombs that struck a residential area in at least one of the cities hit, Ukrainian officials said.
Kharkiv, Sumy, and Zaporizhzhya were among the cities hit by guided bombs dropped by Russian fighter jets, according to Ukrainian air defense forces.
Four people were injured in a residential area of the city of Lozova in the Kharkiv region, the State Emergency Service said.
Russian drones were also reported over Chernihiv and Dnipropetrovsk. No details were available about possible casualties, but in Chernihiv an energy facility was hit, causing a power outage for around 17,000 customers in the north of the country, according to the regional energy supplier.
Russia also carried out more than 10 strikes overnight on Chuhuiv in Ukraine’s eastern Kharkiv region, Mayor Halyna Minayeva said on Facebook.
Almost all of the town’s districts were paralyzed, Minayeva said. Energy suppliers would not be able to begin restoring power until the damage can be assessed.
Ivan Fedorov, governor of the Zaporizhzhya region, also reported fires as a result of Russian attacks during the night. No one was injured, he said.
Russia’s relentless night-time strikes frequently target Ukraine’s energy infrastructure — attacks designed to knock out heating and electricity for Ukrainian civilians as winter approaches in an attempt to break their morale.
In Moscow, the Russian Defense Ministry said on October 18 that its forces had shot down 41 Ukrainian drones over Russian territory and the Black Sea. It said three of the drones had been shot down over the Moscow region.
According to the Russian aviation authority, restrictions were imposed at nine airports in Russia for safety reasons.
The fighting came a day after US President Donald Trump welcomed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to Washington for talks aimed at ending the war.
Zelenskyy met Trump at the White House hoping to find him favorable to the idea of providing Ukraine with long-range Tomahawk cruise missiles, but Trump gave no indication that he backed the idea. Instead he urged Russia and Ukraine to immediately cease fighting, saying enough blood had been shed.
“They should stop where they are,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “Let both claim Victory, let History decide!” Trump said, adding that it was time to stop the killing and make a deal.
