{"id":169864,"date":"2025-10-29T12:50:29","date_gmt":"2025-10-29T12:50:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/ukraine-war-live-nato-jets-intercept-russian-spy-plane-over-baltic-sea-the-independent\/"},"modified":"2025-10-29T12:50:29","modified_gmt":"2025-10-29T12:50:29","slug":"ukraine-war-live-nato-jets-intercept-russian-spy-plane-over-baltic-sea-the-independent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/ukraine-war-live-nato-jets-intercept-russian-spy-plane-over-baltic-sea-the-independent\/","title":{"rendered":"Ukraine war live: Nato jets intercept Russian spy plane over Baltic Sea – The Independent"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Putin’s forces outnumber Ukrainian troops by eight to one in strategic hub of Pokrovsk, says Zelensky
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Poland has said its aircraft intercepted a Russian jet carrying out a mission over the Baltic Sea with its transponder turned off this morning.
\u201cPolish fighters intercepted an Il-20 aircraft conducting a reconnaissance mission in international airspace, without a filed flight plan and with its transponder turned off. The aircraft did not violate Polish airspace,” the Polish Army said in a post on X.
This comes as Russian soldiers gained a foothold in the strategic eastern Ukrainian town of Pokrovsk, Volodymyr Zelensky<\/a> says.
The Ukrainian president said Russia<\/a> had devoted vast numbers of troops to capturing the town, which is a key part of Kyiv<\/a>‘s defensive lines in Donetsk<\/a>, but that it had so far failed to do so.
He said Vladimir Putin<\/a>‘s forces outnumbered Ukrainians there by eight to one.
\u201cImagine how many Russian forces are there. But at the same time, they have not achieved the planned result,\u201d he said.
Zelensky’s battlefield update came as Moscow<\/a> was again targeted as part of a broader Ukrainian drone attack for the third night in a row.
The border crossings between Lithuania and Belarus will remain closed for most travellers until the end of November, the Baltic country’s government has said.
It comes in response to recent airspace disruptions from smugglers’ balloons containing cigarettes, sent into the Baltic country.
Nato countries have been on high alert in recent weeks after drone sightings and other air incursions, including at another Belgian military base , at airports in Copenhagen, Munich and in the Baltic region.
Our world affairs editor j<\/a>oins the Ukrainian infantry near Zaporizhzhia, southern Ukraine, as they bed down in a mud dugout for a night of lethal drone attacks against their Russian enemy \u2013 just a few kilometres away.
Russian<\/a> lawmakers have endorsed a bill mandating year-round military conscription, rather than just in the spring and autumn.
It comes as authorities seek to fill the ranks as fighting in Ukraine<\/a> grinds through a fourth year.
Once the bill is vetted by the upper house and signed into law by President Vladimir Putin<\/a>, it would allow conscription offices to summon draftees for medical exams and other procedures at any time of the year.
Read our full story below.
Ukrainian drones struck two oil depots in Russian-occupied Crimea, an official from Kyiv’s domestic security service said on Wednesday.
The attacks took place at a facility in the village of Hvardiyske and at the Komsomolska depot.
Europe\u2019s biggest nuclear reactor has become a battlefield<\/a> in Ukraine\u2019s defence against Russian invaders as they risk a catastrophic meltdown in its efforts to connect it to Moscow\u2019s national grid.
The Zaporizhzhia<\/a> nuclear power plant , which has six reactors, was captured by Russian troops early in the full scale invasion of Ukraine<\/a> in 2022. It has remained a dangerous potential flashpoint for a nuclear disaster ever since.
Fighting and bombardments by both sides of the complex and the power station itself, which has been entirely occupied by Russian forces who base troops in its buildings, has forced the \u201ccold shut down\u201d of the reactors.
Read our full piece below.
Ukraine<\/a> is rushing to strengthen its positions in the strategic eastern transport hub of Pokrovsk as about 200 Russian troops have infiltrated the city in small groups, Kyiv’s military said.
Last night, Volodymyr Zelensky said his troops have been outnumbered by Russian troops by eight to one in the region.
Russia has been aiming to occupy Pokrovsk, a key part of Kyiv’s defensive lines, for months, seeing it as a crucial point for its push to fully capture the Donetsk region.
It has also been described as a \u201cfortress belt\u201d by the Institute for the Study of War, given that Donetsk forms the main fortified defensive line along the eastern region, halting Russia in their tracks.
\u201cUkraine is holding a key defensive line across Donetsk,\u201d says Elina Beketova, a fellow at the Centre for European Policy Analysis, describing a \u201cfortified zone buildup over years because the war began 11 years ago\u201d.
\u201cIt\u2019s not just trenches, it\u2019s a deep, layered defence with bunkers, anti-tank ditches, minefields, and industrial areas built into the terrain. The area includes dominant heights, rivers, and urban zones that make it extremely hard to capture,\u201d explains Beketova.
Relinquishing the territory would be \u201ccatastrophic\u201d for Ukraine, especially if they are not given concrete security guarantees such as Article 5 protection from Nato.
A United Nations inquiry has concluded that Russian forces are systematically using drones<\/a> to pursue and displace civilians near the front lines in Ukraine<\/a>, a campaign<\/a> described as a crime against humanity.
The report detailed how individuals were hounded from their homes, chased across significant distances by camera-equipped drones, and subsequently targeted with incendiary devices or explosives while attempting to find shelter.
This tactic has compelled thousands to abandon entire regions.
“These attacks were committed as part of a coordinated policy to drive out civilians from those territories and amount to the crime against humanity of forcible transfer of population,” said the 17-page report to be presented to the United Nations General Assembly this week.
Ukraine\u2019s long-range strikes on refineries inside Russia<\/a> have reduced Moscow\u2019s oil refining capacity by 20 per cent, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said, citing intelligence from Western governments.
Over 90 per cent of those deep strikes on Russian soil were carried out by Ukrainian-made long-range weapons, according to Zelensky. He said Ukraine needs additional foreign financial help to produce more of them.
\u201cWe just need to work on this every day,\u201d he said in comments to the media on Monday that were embargoed until Tuesday.
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