Ukraine: drone attack on the Russian city of Voronezh. Moscow strikes a ship carrying military aid

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has submitted a bill to the Verkhovna Rada, the parliament in Kyiv, to extend martial law and general mobilisation for a further 90 days, that is, until 29 January 2027. This has been reported by the Ukrainian media. “We all want the war to end, but martial law will only end when security measures are guaranteed in Ukraine. Without security guarantees, this war will not truly end; we cannot accept that it is over, because there could be a risk of a new aggression of this kind from a neighbouring country,” said Zelensky.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has stated that a trilateral meeting between Kyiv, Washington and Moscow will take place in November with the aim of restarting the peace talks, which are currently at a standstill. “We are ready to engage in dialogue. If it is a territorial issue, it must be addressed at leadership level. Other issues fall within the remit of technical working groups. All of this can therefore be discussed in November,” Zelensky said in an interview with Ukrainian television.

The Ukrainian air defence forces have stated that they neutralised 112 drones and three Kh-59/69 air-launched guided missiles, deployed by Russian forces in an attack on Ukraine last night. According to a report by the Ukrinform news agency, the news was announced by the Ukrainian Air Force via Telegram. According to the military, Russian forces attacked Ukraine using one Kh-31P missile, three Kh-59/69 air-launched guided missiles — launched from temporarily occupied areas in the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions — and 140 Shahed-type attack drones (70 of which were jet-powered), as well as ‘Gerbera’ drones and ‘Parodiya’ decoy drones. The attacks originated from the directions of Orel, Kursk, Shatalovo and Millerovo in Russia, as well as from Hvardiiske in the temporarily occupied Crimea. The air attack was repelled thanks to the intervention of aircraft, anti-aircraft missile units, units specialising in electronic warfare and remotely piloted systems, as well as mobile fire units of the Ukrainian Defence Forces. According to preliminary data, by 8 am today, air defences had shot down or neutralised three Kh-59/69 air-launched guided missiles and 112 enemy drones. Russian munitions were recorded striking 15 locations, whilst debris from the downed targets fell at four locations. The attack is still ongoing, reports Ukrinform, and several Russian drones remain in Ukrainian airspace.

The Russian armed forces shot down 290 Ukrainian drones over Russian regions last night, according to a report from the Ministry of Defence in Moscow. According to the ministry, the drones were shot down in the regions of Belgorod, Bryansk, Voronezh, Volgograd, Kaluga, Kursk, Lipetsk, Novgorod, Oryol, Pskov, Rostov, Ryazan, Smolensk, Tver and Tula.

“The US side has proposed a ceasefire in the Oleshky area from 27 October”, which “is expected to last several days. “Humanitarian missions must get there”, but so too must “the Americans, us and the Russians. The Russians must clear the roads of mines, whilst we must oversee the whole process and work on every aspect”. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy made this statement on X, adding that “Russia will do everything it can to clear the roads so that these people go to Russia”, but “some will instead be evacuated to Ukraine one way or another, to the part we control. The main thing is to free these people from the blockade so that they can live’.

A Ukrainian attack in the central Russian region of Voronezh has killed two civilians and injured a further 17, including a child. This is according to TASS, which cites the region’s governor, Aleksandr Gusev, as its source. “According to the latest information, which may be subject to further updates, two people – men born in 1960 and 1973 – have sadly died, whilst 17 others have been injured following a terrorist attack in the Voronezh region. Among the injured is a child,” he wrote on his Telegram channel.

The Russian armed forces have struck a merchant ship in the Black Sea which, according to Moscow, was carrying military supplies destined for the Ukrainian army to the port of Odessa. This was stated by the Russian Ministry of Defence, which claimed responsibility for a series of attacks on port and energy infrastructure, as well as drone depots, in various regions of Ukraine.

“A cargo ship carrying military supplies destined for the Ukrainian armed forces en route to the port of Odessa was struck at sea,” the ministry’s statement reads. The Russian authorities have not provided any further details about the vessel or the extent of the damage.

A drone is reported to have struck a business centre in the Russian city of Voronezh in the early hours of today, whilst explosions and fires were reported across the city, as part of an ongoing Ukrainian drone attack. This was reported by the independent Russian news agency Astra, as cited by The Kyiv Independent. Footage published by Astra appears to show a drone exploding near the Chizhov Gallery business centre, a 25-storey building in the centre of Voronezh. The Ukrainian monitoring channel Exilenova+ has also published images of the attack. Astra also reported fires in residential areas, having received photographs and videos from eyewitnesses identifying the locations near blocks of flats where explosions had occurred. The governor of Voronezh Oblast, Aleksandr Gusev, confirmed that Russian air defences had responded to a drone attack on Voronezh and the surrounding areas on the morning of 26 October