The President's Daily Brief - PDB Afternoon Bulletin | October 22nd, 2025: Ukraine’s ‘Massive’ Storm Shadow Strike & Kim Jong Un’s Missile Show

Episode Date: October 22, 2025

In this episode of The President’s Daily Brief: Ukraine just launched one of its biggest cross-border strikes of the war, hammering a Russian explosives plant deep inside enemy territory. The weapons of choice? British-made Storm Shadow cruise missiles—capable of flying hundreds of miles and striking with surgical precision. Later in the show—Kim Jong Un wants the world’s attention again. North Korea has fired a volley of short-range ballistic missiles just days before President Trump’s planned visit to the Korean Peninsula, in what analysts are calling a deliberate show of defiance. To listen to the show ad-free, become a premium member of The President’s Daily Brief by visiting https://PDBPremium.com. Please remember to subscribe if you enjoyed this episode of The President's Daily Brief. YouTube: youtube.com/@presidentsdailybrief Mando: Control Body Odor ANYWHERE with @shop.mando and get 20% off + free shipping with promo code PDB at https://shopmando.com! #mandopod Birch Gold: Text PDB to 989898 and get your free info kit on gold Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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hammering a Russian explosive plant deep inside Russian territory. And the weapons that Kiev used for that strike, they were British-made storm shadow missiles. Later in the show, whenever North Korea's Kim Jong-un is feeling ignored, out of the spotlight, you can count on him to toss his teddy out of the crib, usually in the form of a missile launch. True to form, North Korea just launched a volley of short-range missiles ahead of President Trump's visit to the peninsula. But first, today's afternoon spotlight.

As the debate over the potential deployment of U.S.-made Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine continues, Western-made missiles are already being deployed against targets inside Russia. Ukraine's Air Force says it carried out what it called a massive combined missile strike on a Russian chemical plant this week, using British-supplied Storm Shadow cruise missiles. The target was deep inside Russia's Bronsk region, a site that produces gunpowder, explosives, and rocket fuel components for Moscow's military. According to Kiev, the strike was conducted jointly by Ukraine's air, ground, and naval forces, an unusually coordinated operation that officials say penetrated Russia's layered air defense systems. They called it a, quote, successful strike, though the full extent

of the damage is still being assessed. For context, the Storm Shadow is a long-range air-launched cruise missile developed by Britain and France. It's capable of flying more than 150 miles at low altitude to evade radar. Its guidance system uses GPS and terrain mapping and infrared imaging to strike hardened high-value targets with precision. Now, as we've previously reported, the UK first transferred storm shadows to Ukraine last year, and London gave explicit permission for them to be used inside Russian territory. That distinction matters because other Western nations, most notably the U.S., have placed strict limits on how their weapons can be used, largely to avoid escalating the war

beyond Ukraine's borders. This latest strike shows that Ukraine isn't waiting for those restrictions to change. and it's not waiting for tomahawks either. While Washington continues to debate whether to provide longer-range American missiles, Ukraine is making do with what it already has. The Bryansk strike also comes with symbolic weight. It was a deliberate hit on Russia's defense industrial base and an effort to choke the supply chain that fuels its ongoing assault, what Ukrainian officials described as, quote, a blow to the heart of the Russian war economy. And it's worth noting that particular facility had already been sanctioned by the UK back in September for producing materials used in

missiles and ammunition. Now, Moscow's reaction has been, as you might imagine, predictable. The regional governor in Bryansk claimed that air defenses intercepted dozens of Ukrainian drones, he said 57 were destroyed, and that there were no casualties or damage on the ground. But as with most Russian wartime claims, there's little independent verification or evidence to support their version of events. Stormshadow missiles are designed for exactly this sort of campaign, disrupting an adversary's ability to produce, move, and deploy weapons of war. And for Russia, that's an uncomfortable reminder that its industrial rear is no longer safe. Now, to be clear, this latest strike won't fundamentally change the battlefield overnight, but it does underscore

two important ships. First, Ukraine is increasingly focusing on strategic long-range strikes meant to degrade Russia's ability to sustain the fight. And second, the West's tolerance for these cross-border operations appears to be expanding, at least among those supplying the weapons, in this case the UK. Meanwhile, in response, Russia continues to hammer Ukrainian cities. In the past 48 hours, Moscow launched waves of missiles and drones against Kiev, Zaporizia, and Kharkiv. Ukrainian officials say at least seven people were killed, including children, and they were. critical energy infrastructure was damaged in at least 10 regions. President Zelensky called the attacks vile, saying they proved that diplomacy alone will not stop Moscow. And that contrast, the strike on a

military target inside Russia versus Russia's ongoing bombardment of civilian neighborhoods inside Ukraine illustrates how both sides are fighting two different kinds of war. For Ukraine, every precision strike on a weapons plant is a message to its Western partners. we can use your technology responsibly and effectively. For Russia, every missile fired at an apartment block or a hospital or a school is a message of terror to Ukrainians and perhaps to its own people that this war is far from over. So while the Tomahawk debate continues in Washington, the battlefield reality has already changed. The era of Ukraine striking deep inside Russia with Western weapons isn't coming.

It's already here. Coming up next, North Korea fires off a volley of missiles just days before President Trump lands in South Korea for his anticipated meeting with Xi Jinping. More on Kim Jong-un's latest show of force when we come back. Hey, Mike Baker here. Now, let me take just a moment every time to talk about sweat. Uh-huh, you didn't see that coming, did you? Now, let's get real. Fall is here.

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Terms apply. Welcome back to the afternoon bulletin. It's part missile test, part message. North Korea broke five months of silence with a fresh round of short-range launches today, timed just as President Trump ready's for his trip to the Korean Peninsula. According to South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff, the missiles were fired from an area south of Pyongyang

and flew roughly 220 miles northeast east before slamming into the ground, rather than their typical landing spot out of the Pacific Ocean. South Korean officials said they detected movement near known launch sites earlier in the day, prompting a spike in military readiness. Seoul, in a statement following the launch, said its forces remained fully prepared to respond in coordination with the U.S. Japan's new prime minister said Tokyo is, quote, in close communication with Washington and Seoul, confirming that the three allies are sharing real-time missile warning data. The timing was no accident. Trump's Asian swing begins later this week, and Pyongyang clearly wanted to mark the occasion.

President Trump's itinerary is loaded. It includes stops in Malaysia, Japan, and South Korea, capped by the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit and a high-stakes meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, where trade, Taiwan, and missile deterrence sit at the center of the planned discussion. Trump is also expected to meet South Korean President Lim J. Mee. Young, the two reportedly discussed extending an invitation to Kim Jong-un for a brief meeting during Trump's visit, though no word on whether that invitation was actually extended. Inside the White House, AIDS debated whether Trump should make a stop at the demilitarized zone, the DMZ, but again, no final decision has been made.

Still, it is familiar territory for Trump. He met with Kim three times during his first term and what was billed as a historic diplomatic breakthrough. but those tops, well, later collapsed when Washington insisted on the regime's full denuclearization before lifting sanctions. Since then, Kim has pressed ahead with his weapons program in defiance of UN resolutions, and he's made sure the world is watching his arsenal grow in advance and sophistication, in part due to North Korea's growing ties with Russia and the resulting weapons technology transfer. As our regular PDB listeners will remember, the last missile test from

Kim's regime back in May simulated nuclear counterstrikes against U.S. and South Korean forces. And then, of course, came the country's military parade earlier this month, quite the festive occasion, an 80th anniversary spectacle of the Workers' Party at doubled as a weapons expo. Kim unveiled what state media called the, quote, most powerful nuclear strategic weapons system yet. That would be the Huasong 20. It's an intercontinental ballistic missile, believed capable of carrying multiple warheads and reaching the U.S. mainland. Sources on the peninsula say a test could come within months. In his parade speech, Kim vowed that his forces would, quote,

continue to evolve into an invincible force that eliminates all threats. This parade also showcased a mix of short-range, cruise, and hypersonic missiles, all designed to keep Washington guessing as to the extent of Pyongyang's arsenal. And that, my friends, is the PDB afternoon bulletin for Wednesday the 22nd of October. Now, if you have any questions or comments, please reach out to me at PDB at thefirsttv.com. And, of course, to listen to the show ad-free, well, you can do that, and it's very, very simple. Just become a premium member of the president's daily brief by visiting PDB premium.com. I'm Mike Baker.

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