United 24 Media:
🔹 NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander Europe, General Alexus Grynkewich, is developing a strategy to rapidly defeat a Russian attack on the Alliance’s eastern flank, with a particular focus on integrating new defense technologies such as drones and AI, Bloomberg reports.
Grynkewich will present the document in Poland on October 12.
The strategy emphasizes NATO’s defensive nature and the need to avoid inadvertent provocations, while clearly outlining the necessity of a collective response to hybrid threats.
🔸 A horrific strike by two Russian drones hit a Turkish-owned civilian vessel carrying corn in neutral waters. Citizens of Azerbaijan and India were on board. The ship’s captain was killed, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.
“The fate of one other person is still being determined. Eleven crew members were rescued, one of whom was wounded.
Ukraine has repeatedly proposed concrete steps to de-escalate the situation and ensure security in the Black Sea.
There have also been relevant proposals from third countries.
But Russia consistently chooses terror and the sinking of civilian vessels over normal maritime navigation.
Pressure is needed to restore global food security. And everyone who is truly interested in this must help,” Zelenskyy said.
🔹 Three people were killed and 39 injured in a Russian guided aerial bomb strike on Kharkiv, said Oleh Syniehubov, Head of the Regional Military Administration.
People continue to seek assistance. Medical teams, State Emergency Service units, and law enforcement officers are working at the impact sites.
🔸 Eight people were killed, not six as previously reported, when a Russian Tu-95MS strategic bomber crashed in the Amur region on September 29. All eight officers were serving in strategic aviation, according to Mediazona.
The full list of crew members and other officers on board became known after a notice was published in the “Selskie Novosti” (“Rural News”) social media group for the settlement of Seryshevo, where the Ukrainka strategic aviation base is located.
The portraits in the photograph are arranged in the order in which Tu-95MS crew members are typically listed. However, two of those killed were likely passengers or inspectors.
Three officers from the list had previously been identified by the Ukrainian project “Book of Executioners” as participants in and organizers of missile strikes on Ukrainian territory.
Crew members:
▪️ Crew commander and Tu-95 squadron commander, Major Andrey Nikolayevich Lobanov, 40
▪️ Co-pilot, Senior Lieutenant Vladislav Vladimirovich Moskovskikh, 31
▪️ Navigator, Captain Artur Araratovich Yenokyan, 30
▪️ Navigator-operator, Lieutenant Mikhail Mikhailovich Kotyshev, 23
▪️ Flight engineer, Captain Sergey Alexandrovich Monsevich, 47
▪️ Radio operator, Major Vladimir Yuriyovych Kelip, 55
In addition, the following officers were on board:
▪️ Lieutenant Colonel Fyodor Viktorovych Pavlyukov, deputy regimental commander for flight training, 43
▪️ Lieutenant Colonel Andrey Vladimirovich Gerasimov, Tu-95 squadron commander, 36
Before being transferred to the Ukrainka airbase in the Amur region, most of those killed had served at the Engels airbase in the Saratov region.
Following the SBU’s “Pavutyna” (“Spider Web”) operation, the Ukrainka base in Russia’s Far East became one of the primary bases for the strategic aviation remaining in Russia.
🤬 Russia destroyed the pharmaceutical plant of Indian company Kusum in Sumy on October 4.
“The facility, which produced medicines vital to Ukrainians, has been destroyed. One of our key tasks now is to do everything possible to ensure that Ukrainian patients continue to have uninterrupted access to necessary medicines,” the company said.
In addition to its operations in Ukraine, Kusum has manufacturing facilities in India.
“This will allow us, provided there are no artificial regulatory obstacles, to restructure our processes and work on ensuring the continuous supply of medicines to Ukraine,” the company added.
🔸 Following a conversation with French President Emmanuel Macron, President Zelenskyy announced that Ukrainian pilots will soon begin training on French Rafale fighter jets.
According to Zelenskyy, teams from both countries are also continuing to work on localizing the production of French missiles and aerial bombs in Ukraine.
❗️A Russian guided aerial bomb strike on Kharkiv has injured 59 people, the Regional Military Administration said.
The EU may open two more negotiating clusters for Ukraine and Moldova as early as next week, European Commissioner for Enlargement Marta Kos said.
“It is quite possible that we will open the next two clusters for Moldova and Ukraine as early as next week during the intergovernmental conferences in Luxembourg,” Kos said at a press conference in Brussels following the EU-Moldova Association Council meeting.
“The European Union is monitoring the work of the Verkhovna Rada, particularly regarding the adoption of anticipated amendments to legislation on national minorities. We are well aware of the procedures in the Verkhovna Rada, but we hope the law will be passed,” she said.
Kos said both Ukraine and Moldova are demonstrating results under very difficult conditions and are among the leaders of the four EU candidate countries.
“We must never forget: Ukraine is a country fighting for survival. It is in the process of joining the EU and must implement reforms. At the same time, it needs additional funds for the budget and for the army’s needs.
“So, there is no other country in the world doing more than Ukraine at this moment,” Kos said.
🔹 F-16s are responsible for shooting down a significant percentage of jet-powered drones, and there are capabilities available to support their operations with appropriate assets, President Zelenskyy said.
Zelenskyy also discussed other ways to protect critical infrastructure and strengthen air defense with Dutch Prime Minister Rob Jetten.
Furthermore, Zelenskyy briefed Jetten on contacts with the US and potential trilateral meetings at the technical level involving Ukraine, the US, and Russia.
“Realistic proposals that can bring peace closer are important. However, it is essential that Russia takes negotiations seriously and does not seek ever-new pretexts to prolong the war,” Zelenskyy said.
🔸 Russian authorities are denying reports of a plague outbreak in the Irkutsk region, while media outlets and officials have deleted or edited reports about the disease. Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Kazakhstan have also introduced enhanced sanitary controls at their borders, The Insider reports.
Putin’s press secretary, Dmitry Peskov, told journalists to “rely on official statements from Rospotrebnadzor” regarding the epidemiological situation in the Irkutsk region.
The agency previously described the situation as “stable” and said an employee of the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Institute for Siberia and the Far East had died not from plague, but from “pneumonia of unknown etiology.”
Hours before Peskov’s statement, Kommersant published a report citing Axios on Telegram and its website saying that the Trump administration was monitoring reports of a possible plague outbreak in Russia and evaluating potential courses of action. Twenty-five minutes later, both the post and the online article were deleted.
On October 2, REN TV deleted all five of its reports about plague in the Irkutsk region.
Government officials have also deleted or edited reports about the disease.
On October 3, authorities in Baikalsk asked residents via their Telegram channel to temporarily avoid traveling to Shelekhov and neighboring settlements due to “unofficial information regarding a confirmed case of human plague infection.” The post was deleted less than two hours later.
Amid the reports of a possible plague outbreak in the Irkutsk region, Central Asian countries have stepped up sanitary controls at their borders.
Uzbekistan, which does not share a land border with Russia, introduced similar measures as early as October 3. Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan subsequently introduced enhanced sanitary and quarantine controls.
🔹 “You are veering close to defending Hitler.” Former British minister Jacob Rees-Mogg pushed back against Tucker Carlson’s arguments about World War II, Russia, and its invasion of Ukraine.
During an interview with Rees-Mogg, American TV host Tucker Carlson questioned the necessity of supporting Ukraine, the threat posed by Russia, and the wisdom of Britain’s participation in World War II.
Rees-Mogg systematically challenged Carlson’s arguments, pointing to what he described as the Kremlin’s aggressive policies and arguing that Russia must be contained to uphold the international order.
Rees-Mogg described Russia as an “economic failure” despite its natural resources and argued that dictators attack when they perceive weakness.
“Although Russia’s population is significantly larger than that of the United Kingdom, its GDP per capita is so much lower that Russia’s total GDP is smaller than the UK’s. Its natural wealth dwarfs Britain’s, yet Russia has always been a poor country, despite its resources. Why do dictators attack? Because they can. If you don’t support Ukraine, if you allow Russia to seize Ukraine, it will move on to the next target,” he said.
Rees-Mogg also argued that supporting Ukraine serves the West’s interests and that Russia’s invasion violated both international law and the Budapest Memorandum.
“The invasion of Ukraine was illegal not only under international law but also violated a specific agreement between Russia, the US, Great Britain, and Ukraine, under which—in exchange for Ukraine giving up its nuclear weapons—Russia and the other signatories were to guarantee the preservation of its territorial integrity,” he said.
“The fact that an army numbers 1.5 million personnel does not necessarily mean it is one of the most powerful armies in the world. Everyone thought the Russian army was powerful enough to conquer Ukraine in two weeks. And it failed,” Rees-Mogg added.
Carlson also said he did not understand why Britain had gone to war against Nazi Germany and appeared to justify Hitler’s actions regarding Poland.
In response, Rees-Mogg described World War II as a “classic struggle between good and evil” and argued that defeating Nazism was essential to Britain’s survival.
⚡️German gas turbines and other technologies will be supplied to Ukraine under a major agreement signed between Siemens and Naftogaz following a meeting between Zelenskyy and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in Kyiv.
The agreement is expected to strengthen the reliability of Ukraine’s gas infrastructure despite Russia’s attacks on oil and gas facilities.
🔸 Russian forces attacked a bridge across the Dnipro River in Zaporizhzhia, injuring five people.
This morning, Russian troops launched a targeted strike on the city’s transport infrastructure, hitting one of the bridges spanning the Dnipro.
Three more people were later reported injured: two women, aged 24 and 59, and a 36-year-old man.
It was also revealed that two of the men previously hospitalized are Red Cross employees. They were struck by Russian shelling while on their way to work.
Medical personnel are providing the necessary care to all five injured people.
🔹 Russian shelling in Kramatorsk damaged two apartment buildings and a hospital, killing a woman and injuring four other people, the State Emergency Service reports.
Preliminary reports indicate that Russian forces used “Banderols” in the strike.
🔸 Ukraine’s Unmanned Systems Forces have detected the first signs of covert mobilization in Russia, with enemy personnel numbers increasing in the Dobropillia-Pokrovsk sector and other areas of the front.
“+39.7% — a sharp rise in enemy personnel losses, both fatal and non-fatal, during the first five days of October compared with the same period in September: 2,699 confirmed infantry casualties versus 1,931. That is also +76.5% compared with August 1–5, when there were 1,529 casualties.
The largest increase was recorded and effectively engaged by the ‘Birds’ of the Unmanned Systems Forces within the zone of the ‘Azov’ Troop Grouping in the Dobropillia-Pokrovsk sector: +43% compared with the same period in September, with 1,268 enemy fatal and non-fatal casualties inflicted solely by USF pilots, versus 884. That is +91% compared with August, when the figure stood at 664.
The figures provided relate exclusively to USF units and do not include other Defense Forces units. The full picture is, quite frankly, a stark reality.
No fantasies, rumors, or guesswork. Only record-keeping, mathematics, and analysis of verified losses.
Food for thought regarding the need to use one’s head and recalibrate to meet new challenges at the front.
Of course, the enemy isn’t conducting any covert mobilization. It’s just those damned 3D printers churning out disposable bio-product.”