Kyiv Strike Kills Two as Refinery Burns in Russia

A Russian drone tore into a 12-storey apartment block in Kyiv's Desnianskyi district on the evening of October 7, killing two people and injuring four. Rescuers worked through the night to pull 22 residents, including eight children, from the burning building, a reminder that for Kyiv's residents the war still arrives without warning after dark. The strike came as Ukraine's General Staff put a number on the toll the war is taking on Russia's own forces: 1,830 Russian troops killed or wounded in the 24 hours of October 8 alone, pushing Moscow's cumulative losses since the invasion past 762,840. Alongside the troops, Kyiv says Russia lost 21 armoured vehicles, 33 artillery systems and four aircraft that day. Meanwhile, the war reached deep inside Russia itself. A suspected drone strike set fire to the Gazpromneft Salavat refinery in Bashkortostan, some 1,400 kilometres from the Ukrainian border, on the same day. It is one of Russia's largest petrochemical complexes and has now been hit four times since 2025, underscoring how far Ukraine's long-range campaign against Russian energy infrastructure now reaches, even as the front line keeps grinding through soldiers and machines.