Ukraine war live: Moscow deploys ‘150,000 troops’ to Pokrovsk as fighting continues

Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) said it has foiled a plot by Ukrainian and British spies to steal MiG-31 jets equipped with Kinzh hypersonic missiles to Russian pilots for $3 million (£2.2 million), state media reported this morning.

The RIA news agency quoted the FSB as saying that the hijacked jet was to be flown to a NATO air base in the Romanian city of Constanta, where it could be shot down by air defenses, the agency reported.

The FSB, the main successor to the Soviet-era KGB, said Ukraine and Britain had planned a large-scale “provocation” using hijacked aircraft, and that Ukrainian military intelligence had sought to recruit Russian pilots for $3 million (£2.2 million) to steal the fighter plane.

“The measures taken have foiled the large-scale provocation plan of the Ukrainian and British intelligence services,” RIA quoted the FSB as saying.

State TV showed images of messages and recordings from a man they said was working for Ukrainian and British intelligence and had offered a Russian pilot $3 million (£2.2 million) to fly MiGs over Europe and the pilot was also offered citizenship.

Britain is sending military assistance, including RAF specialists, to Belgium following a suspected Russian drone intrusion into its airspace, the new head of Britain’s armed forces has announced.

In a decision taken with Defense Secretary John Healey, the chief of the defense staff, Air Chief Marshal Sir Richard Knighton, said personnel and equipment were now on the way after his Belgian counterpart asked for help earlier this week.

The main airport in Zaventem, Belgium, was temporarily closed on Thursday night after drones were spotted nearby and at military bases, affecting about 3,000 Brussels Airlines passengers as dozens of flights were canceled or diverted.

Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) said it has foiled a Ukrainian-British plot to hijack a MiG-31 jet armed with a Kinzhal hypersonic missile, the RIA news agency reported this morning.

The FSB claimed that the hijacked jet was to be flown to a NATO air base in the Romanian city of Constanta, where it could be shot down by air defenses.

Ukraine’s top military commander Oleksandr Sirsky told New York Post Russia was concentrating about 150,000 troops in the campaign to capture Pokrovsk, including mechanized groups and marine brigades.

He said Ukrainian forces were using built-up urban areas to limit the advance of Russian troops and were also encountering Russian sabotage units.

“Battles are going on and battles are continuing. The enemy is rapidly maneuvering all the time,” he said.

Ukraine’s anti-corruption agencies have launched a “large-scale operation” in the country’s energy sector to uncover corruption linked to a “high-level criminal organization”, according to reports.

The National Anti-Corruption Agency (NABU) said that together with the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO), it carried out a “large-scale operation” to expose alleged corruption.

The agency said the investigation involved 15 months of work and 1,000 hours of audio recording. “The activities of a high-level criminal organization have been documented,” the statement said, adding that the scheme was organized to influence “strategic state-sector enterprises.”

NABU claimed that those involved in the scheme sought to obtain illegal profits of up to 15 percent of the state contract value.

President Volodymyr Zelensky wants to order 25 Patriot air defense systems from the United States, as the country faces persistent Russian air strikes, causing widespread blackouts on the brink of winter.

Acknowledging the high costs and long manufacturing times, Mr Zelensky suggested European countries could donate their patriots and wait for replacements, stressing, “We don’t want to wait.”

The missile and drone attacks on the power grid coincide with Ukraine’s efforts to deter a Russian offensive toward the eastern stronghold of Pokrovsk.

The commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces has denied reports of Russian advances in Pokrovsk in the Donetsk region, where troops from Kiev and Moscow are engaged in one of the fiercest frontline fighting.

“They continue to show the region on their maps as if it is under their control,” said Oleksandr Sirsky.

“This notion – that the enemy has got practically everything and they’re going to take it all – is not true.”

His statement came after Russian media reports claimed that Moscow’s forces had captured the city of Pokrovsk.

Ukraine’s overnight drone strike caused damage to civilian infrastructure in the Saratov region, the governor of the western Russian region said this morning.

“All emergency services were deployed to the scene,” Governor Roman Basurgin said on Telegram.

Ukraine’s military units are competing with each other by carrying out deadly drone strikes to earn points that can be used to buy more weapons.

Bryony Gooch has more…