Fatal strike on the Khoryv
A Russian drone struck the civilian cargo ship Khoryv near Romania’s Black Sea coast on October 23, causing the vessel to sink. The ship, Khoryv, sailed under the flag of Comoros and was crewed by Ukrainian and Azerbaijani nationals. Romanian President Nicusor Dan reported that one crew member died and three others remain missing from the 13-member crew. Romanian authorities rescued nine crew members from the water. Romanian authorities released a video showing the overturned ship’s keel barely protruding above the water’s surface. "This attack is a new example of the tragic consequences of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine," Dan wrote on social media. He stated that Russia must take the peace initiatives proposed by the United States and Europe seriously and accept the ceasefire proposals to end the war. This maritime strike follows a series of Russian attacks on civilian shipping in the Black Sea as part of an escalation in economic warfare against Ukraine this year. NATO plans to increase its military presence in the Black Sea by deploying additional maritime patrol aircraft, radar systems, and drones. This decision follows an October 20 meeting of the North Atlantic Council in Brussels to discuss security in the Black Sea. The Russian defense ministry claimed during the daytime strikes on October 22 that they hit two dry cargo ships carrying cargo for Ukraine’s armed forces to Odesa and Chornomorsk.
Drone waves and infrastructure damage
Russia launched 176 drones starting at 18:00 on October 22, including 92 jet-powered Shahed-type drones, and air defense systems downed or suppressed 140 of those drones as they hit 19 different locations. Debris fell in 13 locations, and the air force reported that the strike involved no missiles. These drone strikes follow 60 targeted strikes on energy and oil and gas infrastructure by Russia since October 19, according to First Deputy Prime Minister and Energy Minister Denys Shmyhal. These attacks targeted the Rivne, Volyn, Khmelnytskyi, and Vinnytsia regions, along with thermal power plants in Kyiv. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy reported that Russia fired 21 ballistic missiles at Kyiv in three waves, three of them with cluster warheads that burst in the air, including one strike between the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra and the Holy Presentation Monastery. The air force noted that 10 drones remained in the air as of 08:00 Kyiv time during the preliminary assessment. In the Rivne region, Russia targeted energy, housing, and business, hitting one northern settlement seven times in a row. This attack left part of the region without power, and Ukrenergo scheduled hourly outages for one to two queues in some regions on October 23.
Civilian casualties in Lozova and Odesa
Russian strikes on October 22 damaged a DTEK thermal power plant, forcing the facility to stop generating electricity. DTEK reported that its thermal plants have faced more than 230 attacks since the full-scale invasion. In the Kharkiv region, a Geran drone and a Banderol munition hit a market in Lozova on October 22. This strike killed two women, aged 50 and 60, and injured 34 people. Governor Oleh Syniehubov provided an initial report of 11 injured at 12:16, but the count increased throughout the afternoon. In the Odesa region, drones hit the Tytan food plant in the Kiliya community for a second night running on October 21 and 22, which burned out its administrative building. The plant reported losses of UAH143mn and the destruction of approximately 310 tonnes of food. In the Dnipro region, Russia struck with drones almost 20 times overnight, damaging an administrative building, a house, and infrastructure in Pavlohrad. A 44-year-old man and a 26-year-old woman suffered wounds in the Nikopol and Synelnykove districts.
