Russian drones killed at least three people in Ukraine on Friday, 16 October. In the eastern city of Kharkiv, a 71-year-old woman and a 58-year-old man died and twelve other people were injured, according to governor Oleh Synehubov. In the northwestern Volyn region, which borders Poland, a drone strike on a food-processing plant killed one person and injured eight, governor Roman Romaniuk said.

Authorities said more than a million people were at times without electricity after the attacks brought down energy supply in several areas, and that the installations have since been repaired. Earlier in the day, about 370,000 people in Volyn had been temporarily without power. The drone attacks also hit a customs terminal in Kowel, where about ten trucks burned, and shopping centres in Sumy and Rivne, where seven people were injured according to regional authorities.

Speaking at the EU summit in Brussels, Volodymyr Zelensky warned against further sanctions relief for Moscow after the recently concluded diesel deal between the United States and Russia. He said such arrangements would be followed by gas agreements, then the lifting of more sanctions, and then measures against the banking sector, referring to Russian assets frozen in Europe. He also said that if Ukraine lost the war, up to 20 million Ukrainians could flee westward, and that Vladimir Putin would not be satisfied with occupied Donbas but would claim all of Ukraine.

Separately, Russian investment envoy Kirill Dmitriev told an energy conference in Moscow that Russia and the United States were discussing further joint projects despite US sanctions, including data centres and small nuclear reactors to meet their growing power demand.