Russian drones killed two people near Ukraine's second-largest city of Kharkiv overnight, regional governor Oleh Syniehubov said on Telegram on Wednesday, in a fresh round of strikes across the country. Another 11 people suffered stress reactions in the attack, which struck private houses and caused other damage, he said.

In Ukraine's capital, Kyiv, a Russian airstrike hit a high-storey apartment building and transport infrastructure, causing fires, Mayor Vitalii Klitschko said on Telegram. Ukrainian outlet Hromadske reported that a transportation infrastructure facility in the Solomianskyi district was hit and caught fire, that drone debris fell on open ground in the Sviatoshynskyi district, and that another drone fell in a non-residential area of Solomianskyi, with emergency services working at the impact sites.

There was also a strike on a university in Kremenchuk in the Poltava region that injured two, local authorities said, according to Reuters.

These are Ukrainian officials' accounts of the strikes; there was no immediate Russian response in the reports. Russian military bloggers reported overnight strikes on targets in Lutsk, Kovel and Slovyansk, presenting them as hits on Ukrainian logistics and military-linked facilities — claims that could not be independently verified.

The strikes came hours before a scheduled meeting on Wednesday between US envoy Steve Witkoff and Russian President Vladimir Putin. A US official said Witkoff had held what he called "constructive" talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in Norway on Tuesday, with the stated aim of building on progress toward direct negotiations.

Awaaz Punjab is not naming any of the victims. The overnight attacks continue a pattern of Russian strikes on Ukrainian cities and energy and transport infrastructure ahead of winter, while US-led diplomacy tries to move Moscow and Kyiv toward talks.

Sources: Reuters, via regional officials' statements (Oct 21, 2026); Hromadske, citing Kyiv Mayor Vitalii Klitschko's Telegram reports (Oct 21, 2026); The Independent live coverage of Ukraine-Russia war developments (Oct 21, 2026).