Al Jazeera reported that on October 22, Russia dropped three ballistic missiles with cluster warheads on Kyiv, with one hitting an area between a church and a monastery, with Ukraine saying there were no military targets nearby. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that since this autumn, Ukrainian soldiers have recaptured more territory than Russia has seized. The Washington-based think tank Institute for the Study of War (ISW) noted that since September 1, Ukraine has made a net gain of 241 square kilometers (93 square miles) of territory, essentially offsetting all of Russia's territorial gains this year. Russia, in response, said it struck dozens of Ukrainian energy facilities and used cluster bombs. Ukrainian Prime Minister Serhiy Khoretskyi said that since taking office on July 16, Russia has attacked Ukraine's energy infrastructure 2,147 times.

Ukraine also accused the US of taking three actions detrimental to its defense, including suspending the Starshield satellite navigation system, which has left Ukrainian drones unable to fly faster than 150 km/h (100 mph), and withholding Patriot interceptors. In addition, US President Donald Trump signed an executive order on October 16 exempting Russian oil exports from sanctions in order to lower diesel prices, with Russia's first shipment of 40,000 tons of diesel set to be shipped to the US within the next two to three days. Trump said on October 22 that Starlink and Starshield services would soon be restored.