Ukraine attacks Russian gas processing plant as Zelenskyy calls for more international pressure on Putin.
Published On 19 Oct 2025
Here is how things stand on Monday, October 20, 2025:
Fighting
- The General Staff of Ukraine’s Armed Forces said in a post on Facebook that it struck a gas processing plant in Russia’s Orenburg region, causing explosions and “a large-scale fire”.
- Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Energy said that the Orenburg gas processing plant, the largest facility of its kind in the world, had been forced to suspend its intake of gas from Kazakhstan following the Ukrainian drone attack.
- Orenburg Governor Yevgeny Solntsev had said earlier on Sunday that the plant, which is run by state-owned gas giant Gazprom, had been partially damaged, and that the drone attack caused a fire at a workshop at the facility. The blaze was later put out, Russian media outlet Kommersant reported, citing the operator.
- Ukraine’s General Staff also said that its forces hit the Novokuybyshevsk oil refinery in Russia’s Samara region.
- Russian forces launched a “massive” attack on a coal mine in Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk region, private Ukrainian energy company DTEK wrote in a post on Telegram, adding that 192 mineworkers, who were underground during the incident, were being evacuated.
- Russia’s Ministry of Defence said it shot down 323 Ukrainian drones, two guided bombs, and three rocket launchers in a 24-hour period, according to Russia’s state TASS news agency.
- Russia launched more than 3,270 attack drones, 1,370 guided aerial bombs, and nearly 50 missiles against Ukraine in the past week, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wrote in a post on Facebook.
Politics and diplomacy
- United States President Donald Trump pressed Zelenskyy to give up territory to Russia during a White House meeting on Friday that left the Ukrainian delegation disappointed, Reuters reported, citing two unidentified officials.
- The Financial Times also reported that the meeting was tense, saying that Trump told Zelenskyy that Russian President Vladimir Putin would “destroy” Ukraine if Kyiv did not accept Moscow’s terms for ending the war.
- Polish President Donald Tusk wrote on X on Sunday that “none of us should put pressure on Zelenskyy when it comes to territorial concessions”.
- Zelenskyy told NBC that more pressure is needed on Putin, since the Russian leader is “more strong than Hamas”.
- The Ukrainian president also said that he should be included in upcoming talks between Putin and Trump in Hungary.
- In an interview on Fox News on Sunday morning, Trump again indicated that he was not willing to send more arms to Ukraine, saying: “We have to remember one thing. We need them for ourselves too. You know, we can’t give all of our weapons to Ukraine.”
- Germany’s Federal Foreign Office announced that it was temporarily recalling its envoy to Georgia, saying in a post on X that the country’s “leadership has for months been agitating against the EU, Germany and the German ambassador personally”.
