Ukraine-Russia war live: Five-hour air raid sirens in the east after Kyiv downs warplane in Donetsk

Russia launched 87 attack drones and four missiles overnight targeting Ukrainian territory, Ukraine‘s air force said

Trump claims he could end Russia-Ukraine war as he meets with Zelensky

Russian air attacks on Ukraine kept the eastern half of the country under air raid alert for more than five hours, the Ukrainian military has said.

Moscow launched several waves of strikes targeting Kyiv, Odesa and other cities, according to the military.

The Ukrainian military shot down 56 out of at least 87 drones launched by Russia over various regions of the country, the air force said.

“The enemy once again used its drones against Kyiv overnight!" Serhiy Popko, head of Kyiv's military administration, said on Telegram. "Russian drones entered the capital of Ukraine in several waves and from different directions."

All the air weapons were destroyed on their approach and, according to preliminary information, there were no reports of damage or injuries, Popko said.

Air raid alerts for the capital and its region was announced three times during the night, totalling more than five hours, Mr Popko added.

It comes as Ukrainian forces said they shot down a Russian fighter plane near the city of Kostiantynivka in the Donetsk province.

Photos showed charred remains of an aircraft after it landed on a house that caught fire.

Key Points

• Russia launched 87 drones and four missiles at Ukraine, Ukrainian air force says
• Ukrainian forces down Russian bomber in Donetsk region
• Zelensky prepares to present ‘victory plan’ to world leaders
• Russia claims gains in the eastern Ukraine
• Russia knocked out most infrastructure in Ukraine's Pokrovsk

[6 October 2024 03:00 · Jabed Ahmed]

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[6 October 2024 02:00 · Jabed Ahmed]

British-French cruise missiles fired by Ukraine at Russian troops, reports

A Ukrainian aircraft fired British-French cruise missiles at Russian troops attempting to advance towards a city in Ukraine, Sky news has reported.

A Ukrainian security source shared drone footage with the broadcaster that reportedly shows strikes on Russian troops advancing towards Pokrovsk, eastern Ukraine.

“The Ukrainian Armed Forces used Storm Shadow/Scalp missiles, gifted by Western nations,” the source said.

The Independent could not confirm the assertions or the drone footage.

[6 October 2024 01:00 · Jabed Ahmed]

Zelensky to present ‘victory plan’ at Ramstein meeting

Ukraine will present its “victory plan” at a regular meeting of its allies at Ramstein in Germany on 12 October, President Volodymyr Zelensky has said.

“We will present the victory plan, clear, specific steps for a just end to the war,” he wrote.

Ukraine, which has been fending off an invasion from much larger neighbour Russia for nearly 1,000 days, has in recent months teased a plan to end the war.

The details have not been made public, but Zelenskiy presented it to US President Joe Biden, as well as both major candidates running in the country’s presidential election, when he visited Washington last month.

The US State Department spokesman said the plan contained “a number of productive steps” which the US would engage with Ukraine on.

[5 October 2024 23:59 · Jabed Ahmed]

Watch: Putin wants to erase Ukraine by stealing our children, Ukrainian tennis pro Svitolina warns

[5 October 2024 23:00 · Jabed Ahmed]

Ukraine downs a Russian warplane and Russia claims gains in the east

[5 October 2024 22:00 · Jabed Ahmed]

Full report: Russian prosecutors seek 7 year sentence for US man accused of fighting for Ukraine

[5 October 2024 21:00 · Jabed Ahmed]

Russian offensive to peak in 'months, if not weeks'

Vladimir Putin’s offensive in eastern Ukraine is likely to culminate in the coming months, a US-based think tank has said.

“Russian forces do not have the available manpower and materiel to continue intensified offensive efforts indefinitely, however, and current Russian offensive operations in eastern Ukraine will likely culminate in the coming months, if not weeks, as Ukrainian officials and ISW have previously assessed,” the Institute for the Study of War said in an assessment.

Ukrainian forces, it said, also face serious operational challenges and constraints, which are providing Russian forces with opportunities to pursue tactically significant gains.

But the current Russian offensive, which was started in autumn last year, has not yielded operationally significant gains for Russian forces and only offered gradual tactical gains in specific sectors of the front, the ISW said.

Ukraine’s “effective defence in depth along the frontline” has caused Russia significant losses and prevent Mr Putin’s troops from making more rapid gains on the battlefield, it said.

[5 October 2024 20:02 · Jabed Ahmed]

Former Nato chief says he regrets not providing Ukraine with support earlier

Former Nato chief Jens Stoltenberg has said he regrets the alliance did not provide military support to Ukraine earlier.

“If there’s anything I in a way regret and see much more clearly now is that we should have provided Ukraine with much more military support much earlier,” he told the Financial Times.

“I think we all have to admit, we should have given them more weapons pre-invasion. And we should have given them more advanced weapons, faster, after the invasion. I take my part of the responsibility.”

Mr Stoltenberg also said Nato had called Putin’s “bluff” after “crossing all those so-called red lines” the Russian President had put up.

Putin has constantly threatened Nato and Ukraine’s Western allies to not interfere with Russia’s invasion, often with nuclear threats.

[5 October 2024 19:00 · Jabed Ahmed]

No prospect for Ukraine war negotiation ‘anytime soon’, say western officials

There is no prospect for negotiation “anytime soon” over the war in Ukraine, western officials have said.

They added that Ukraine was unlikely to reverse recent gains by Russia with “relative stability on the front line” expected.

Russia captured the tactically significant town of Vuhledar on Wednesday, as officials said Moscow would now “seek to exploit opportunities in villages and towns in its vicinity in the coming weeks”.

However, they added that Russia would not be able to “fundamentally capitalise on these gains”.

Western officials said: “We’re not going to suddenly see a breakthrough and a rapid advance of Russia westwards.

“It will just continue to be this slow grind.”

[5 October 2024 18:00 · Jabed Ahmed]

Russia shells southern Ukraine and a Ukraine drone hits a bus

Two people have died in Russian shelling in Ukraine‘s southern Zaporizhzhia region, regional governor Ivan Fedorov said.

Ukraine‘s air force said that Russia had launched three guided missiles and 13 attack drones at Ukraine overnight into Saturday.

It said the missiles were intercepted, three drones were shot down over the Odesa region and 10 others were lost.

Nine people were wounded when a Ukrainian drone struck a passenger bus in the city of Horlivka in the partially occupied Donetsk region, the city’s Russian-installed Mayor Ivan Prikhodko said.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said Saturday that air defenses shot down 10 Ukrainian drones overnight in three border regions, including seven over the Belgorod region, two over the Kursk region, and one over the Voronezh region.