Russia Hits Kyiv With 269 Drones and Missiles as Zelenskyy Offers Patriot-for-Diesel Swap to Trump

Since Trump signed an executive order late Friday waiving the sweeping sanctions law named for the late Sen. Lindsey Graham, the U.S.-Ukraine rift has widened while the strikes on both sides have not stopped. The newest escalation came overnight into Monday, Oct. 19.

The overnight barrage on Kyiv

The Ukrainian Air Force said Russia fired Iskander-M and S-400 ballistic missiles, Iskander-K cruise missiles and 269 attack drones. Ukrainian air defenses downed four cruise missiles and 243 drones.

The rest got through. In Kyiv, a 21-year-old woman was killed and eight people were injured. The strikes damaged a 25-story residential tower, a health clinic, the Cosmo Multimall shopping center and track infrastructure on the metro's Red Line.

Late Sunday, a Russian ballistic missile attack on Kyiv killed at least one person, local authorities said. Preliminary information indicated a missile hit a medical center.

Ukraine hit back with a large drone strike on Russia over the weekend, according to NPR. Russian authorities said Ukrainian drones killed a woman in a border region and disrupted flights at Moscow's airports.

Missing early warnings

Zelenskyy said the United States again failed to send advance warning of the incoming ballistic launches. He said the same happened on Oct. 12, 13 and 14. A person familiar with the matter told Bloomberg that Washington gave no early warning ahead of Sunday's Kyiv attack either.

Without that warning, it is harder to intercept missiles and to alert civilians in time.

Zelenskyy also told Bloomberg that Washington has deliberately slowed Starlink internet speeds that Ukrainian troops depend on. He said it has also delayed already scarce Patriot interceptor deliveries.

"I believe steps have been taken to convince Ukraine to capitulate," he said. He added that he does not want to believe American partners think the war could end sooner at Ukraine's expense, "but that's how it looks."

The Patriot-for-diesel offer

In the same Sunday interview, Zelenskyy put a new trade on the table. "We don't target Russian diesel, you give us missiles for Patriot systems to protect our facilities," he said. He added that Washington just wants Ukraine to stop attacking diesel targets, and that if Ukraine strikes them, "they will disconnect us from something."

The offer speaks to Trump's central complaint. Trump has said Ukraine's refinery strikes disrupt global diesel supplies and hurt American farmers, truckers and businesses. Kyiv's position is that hitting Russia's oil industry weakens Moscow's ability to finance the war.

Washington has not publicly answered the Patriot proposal.

Trump's position and Zelenskyy's reply

Trump has said Ukraine could have negotiated a better deal two years ago and has accused Zelenskyy of being unwilling to end the war. "He doesn't want to end this war, and probably never did," Trump wrote of Zelenskyy. On Saturday he told reporters: "I suggest they get a new leader who can make a deal."

Zelenskyy answered on Oct. 19. "Ukraine never wanted this war, and we took a positive approach to literally EVERY attempt by our partners to bring this war to a dignified conclusion; to EVERY ceasefire proposal, our answer was positive," he wrote. "Ballistic missiles, Shahed drones, and murder are Russia's repeated answers."

He called the withholding or slowing of air-defense interceptors a "denial of reality" at a time when Moscow "receives sanction relief or postponements."

Some of this record is clear. Trump announced the diesel deal with Putin last week, and the Treasury Department authorized temporary sanctions relief to facilitate Russian diesel supplies. Russia would immediately supply more than 300,000 tons, with additional shipments expected in November and beyond. Trump has argued the agreement would help bring down fuel prices.

The cost to Ukraine is the other half of the ledger. Zelenskyy said Russia hit 15 critical power generation facilities the same day Trump signed the waiver. He called it one of the largest attacks on the grid and said Moscow is trying to leave millions without electricity and heat before winter.

Summit talk without Kyiv

The Wall Street Journal reported that Putin proposed a meeting with Trump and Xi Jinping next month. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Monday that Putin and Trump discussed possible trilateral talks with Xi, but there were no specific proposals for a meeting or an agenda.

Peskov added that no final settlement is possible without a Kyiv representative "who's willing to take responsibility."

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said a Ukraine-U.S.-Russia meeting could help end the war sooner. A summit that excludes Kyiv, he said, "would do only the opposite: encourage Putin to continue this war."

Zelenskyy said earlier that Washington was working to arrange a three-way meeting with him, Trump and Putin, possibly in the Middle East, Europe or the United States. Ukraine's lead negotiator, Rustem Umerov, met envoy Jared Kushner on Friday.

On Congress, Sen. Richard Blumenthal, who co-drafted the sanctions law, said Trump was turning his back on "the majority of Americans, their representatives in both houses of Congress, and our European allies." The Kremlin and Putin had not yet reacted to the waiver, though several Russian officials celebrated it.

Two markers now frame the next move: the Nov. 3 U.S. midterms, which Zelenskyy called a stretch of "dangerous days," and the meeting Putin has floated for next month, where Ukraine's seat is undecided.