Ukraine-Russia war live: Five-hour air-raid sirens over east after warplane downed

Russian air attacks on Ukraine kept the eastern half of the country under air raid alert for more than five hours, Ukraine‘s military said, with Moscow launching several waves of strikes targeting Kyiv and other cities.

“The enemy once again used its drones against Kyiv overnight!” Serhiy Popko, head of Kyiv’s military administration, said on the Telegram messaging app. “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. Details regarding the size of the attack will come later in the day, he said.

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

Hennadii Trukhanov, mayor of the Black Sea port of Odesa, said on Telegram that Russia targeted the southern city overnight, with several explosions reported.

There was no information on damages or injuries there.

Oleksandr Prokudin, governor of the southern region of Kherson, said on Sunday that one civilian had died and 15 were injured in Russia’s attacks on the region in the past 24 hours.

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

Ukraine‘s air defence units destroyed 56 of the drones and two of the missiles, the air force said on the Telegram messaging app.

Russia’s ambassador to the US, Anatoly Antonov, a staunch Kremlin hardliner, is ending his term and returning to Moscow amidst the worst US-Russia relations in decades.

“Russian Ambassador to the US Anatoly Ivanovich Antonov is concluding his Washington assignment and heading to Moscow,” TASS state news agency cited the foreign ministry as saying.

There was no mention of who would succeed the envoy, known for his military-style negotiation approach. His position on Russia’s war in Ukraine has demonstrated steadfast support for Vladimir Putin’s actions.

“It is obvious to us that the enemy will be defeated and victory will be Russia’s,” Antonov said on Saturday in an unrelated post on the Telegram messaging app, commenting on Russian forces capturing Ukraine’s mining town of Vuhledar.

Ukrainian forces reported the downing of a Russian warplane in eastern Ukraine on Saturday.

The bomber was shot down near Kostiantynivka in the Donetsk region, according to Serhiy Horbunov, head of the local military administration, as cited by Ukraine’s public broadcaster, Suspilne.

Images revealed the charred wreckage of the aircraft after it crashed into a house, igniting a fire.

Here is a roundup of the events that happened on Saturday:

• Ukraine will present ‘victory plan’ at Ramstein meeting

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

• Russia takes control of village in eastern Ukraine, reports say

  • Russia’s Defence Ministry has said that its forces had taken control of the village of Zhelanne Druhe in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, the Russian state-run TASS news agency reported.

• Ukraine downs a Russian warplane

  • Ukrainian forces have have shot down a Russian fighter plane in Donetsk, local officials said.

• Russian prosecutor seeks 7-year sentence for US man over mercenary charges, IFX reports

  • A Russian prosecutor has called for a seven-year prison sentence for a 72-year-old American man who Russia accuses of working as a mercenary for Ukraine, Interfax news agency reported.

Russia launched an air attack on Kyiv early today, Ukraine’s military claimed on the Telegram messaging app. Their air defence units were actively working to repel the assault, it said.

An employee at a Russian-controlled nuclear power plant in Ukraine has been killed in a car bomb attack.

Russia’s Investigative Committee, said the employee, Andrei Korotkiy, had died after a bomb planted under his car went off near his house in the city of Enerhodar, where the Zaporizhzhia plant is located.

Korotkiy worked in the plant’s security department, the Committee said. A criminal case has been opened into his death.

Ukrainian military intelligence published a video of his car exploding and in a statement branded Korotkiy a “war criminal” and collaborator, accusing him of repressing Ukrainians and of handing Russia a list of the plant’s employees and then pointing out people with pro-Ukrainian views.

“The Main Intelligence Directorate of Ukraine‘s Ministry of Defence reminds people that every war criminal will be fairly punished,” the Ukrainian agency said.

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.