Ukraine shoots down warplane, Russia claims advances in the east

(Kyiv) Ukrainian forces said they shot down a Russian warplane on Saturday, as Russia says it has advanced in eastern Ukraine.

The Russian bomber was shot down near the town of Kostiantynivka, in Donetsk province, announced the head of the Kostiantynivka military administration, Serhiy Horbunov, quoted by the Ukrainian public channel Suspilne. Photos show the charred remains of a plane that landed on a house that caught fire.

Also in the partially occupied Donetsk province, the Russian Defense Ministry said it had taken control of the village of Zhelanne Druhe.

If confirmed, it would come three days after Ukrainian forces announced they were withdrawing from the town of Vouhledar, located on the front line about 33 kilometers from Zhelanne Druhe, after a fierce two-year defense.

Although unlikely to change the course of the war, the loss of Vouhledar is indicative of Kyiv’s deteriorating position, in part because of the United States’ refusal to grant Ukraine access to authorization to strike targets inside Russian territory and to prevent Kyiv from degrading Moscow’s capabilities.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Saturday that he would present his “victory plan” at the October 12 meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group (UDCG), which supplies him with weapons.

“We will present the victory plan, which consists of clear and concrete measures towards a just end to the war. The determination of our partners and the strengthening of Ukraine are the only ways to stop Russian aggression,” he wrote on the social network X.

Mr Zelensky presented his plan to US President Joe Biden in Washington last week. Its contents have not been made public, but it is known that it provides for Ukraine’s membership in NATO and the sending of long-range missiles to strike inside Russia.

Separately, two people were killed in a Russian bombing in the Zaporizhia region in southern Ukraine, said the region’s governor, Ivan Fedorov.

The Ukrainian Air Force maintained that Russia launched three guided missiles and 13 attack drones into Ukraine overnight. The missiles were intercepted, three drones were shot down over the Odessa region and ten more were lost.

Nine people were injured when a Ukrainian drone hit a bus in the town of Horlivka in the partially occupied Donetsk region, the Russian-occupied town’s mayor, Ivan Prikhodko, said.

The Russian Defense Ministry said air defenses shot down ten Ukrainian drones overnight in three border regions, including seven over the Belgorod region, two over the Kursk region and one in -above the Voronezh region.