BAccording to information received from Kiev, three Ukrainian Air Force pilots were killed in a collision between fighter planes in northwestern Ukraine, including the well-known fighter pilot „Joyce”. The 40th Tactical Aviation Brigade said the dead were Vyacheslav Minka, Serhiy Prokasin and Andrei Pilchikov, nicknamed „Joyce”.

The Ukrainian Air Force announced the next day that in the incident, two L-39 training aircraft collided in the Zhitomir region on Friday.

The pilot was „courageous, principled and uncompromising”.

His battalion explained that Pilchikov, known as the pilot „Joyce”, was „brave, principled and uncompromising”. The three victims were „participants in air operations in defense of Ukraine since the beginning of Russia’s aggression,” including „tactical missions in the east and in the Zaporizhia region.”

A Ukrainian Air Force spokesman described Pilchikov as a pilot with „tremendous knowledge and immense talent”. „Rest in peace, you have done so much for us,” the spokesperson said online. President Volodymyr Zelensky paid tribute to the dead in a speech on Saturday as a defender of a „free Ukraine sky”.

All developments in the live tape:

16:49 – Ukrainian army: „We are advancing south from Ropotyn”

A Ukrainian army spokesman said that the Ukrainian army is heading south after breaking through the Russian defense line in Ropotyn. The next targets are the villages of Novoprokopyevka, Mala Tokmachka and Ocheretovat. This was stated by officer Oleksandr Shtopun, spokesman for the forces in this sector of the front, on Ukrainian television on Sunday.

Although the Russian air force was intensifying its attacks there, Stopun interpreted this as a sign that the exhausted Russian artillery and infantry had little left to resist the Ukrainian advance.

1:32 p.m. – Russian paramilitaries threaten to disobey orders

A force of right-wing Russian paramilitaries is said to be threatening to disobey orders in the Ukraine war because one of its commanders is imprisoned in Finland. The Rusic militia demanded that the Russian government force the 36-year-old to leave the country. The American Institute for the Study of War (ISW) reported this on Sunday. „If the state does not protect its citizens, why should citizens protect the country?” she said on Telegram.

The detained Russian is suspected of committing atrocities against Ukrainian soldiers during the fighting in eastern Ukraine in 2014 and 2015. Therefore, Ukraine demands his extradition. The Vantaa court near Helsinki extended the man’s detention on Friday, according to Finnish Elle radio. The well-known right-wing extremist had already been arrested in July on charges of violating residency rules. According to Russian paramilitary forces in a Finnish prison, he is said to have already been interrogated by officials from Ukraine’s SBU.

13:04 – Russian investigators: DNA test confirms Prigozhin’s death

Four days after a private plane crashed in Russia, the death of mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin has been confirmed through DNA tests, Russian investigators say. Russia’s Investigative Committee said on Sunday that all 10 people who died in the crash had been identified during genetic tests. These are the people mentioned in the flight passenger list.

According to the authorities, Prigozhin was on the list, as was his deputy, Dmitry Utkin. The investigation committee initially did not provide any additional information. The investigators also did not comment on the effects examined.

12:03 p.m. – Ukraine is investigating a fatal collision of fighter jets

In Ukraine, an investigation is underway into a collision between two fighter jets that killed three. Air Force spokesman Yuriy Ihnat told Ukrainian television on Sunday that it was not clear how long the investigation would be. According to the Air Force on Telegram, two L-39 military aircraft collided during a combat mission over the Zhytomyr region of western Ukraine on Friday. Three pilots are said to have been killed, including the well-known Andrei Pilchikov, who campaigned for the country to receive F-16 fighter jets.

10:40 a.m. – Russian authorities report that a drone has crashed into an apartment building

According to local authorities, a drone crashed into an apartment building in the Russian city of Kursk, near the border with Ukraine. Regional Governor Roman Starwit said on the Telegram online service that no one was injured in the incident, which occurred on Saturday night. Windows were blown out on several floors, and a nearby university building was damaged.

Meanwhile, the Russian Defense Ministry said that two Ukrainian drones were shot down in the Kursk region and the Bryansk region, which also borders Ukraine.

08:42 – Russian missile attack

It was reported that several regions of Ukraine were hit by Russian cruise missiles early Sunday morning. Among other things, air defenses have been activated on the outskirts of Kiev, the military administration of the Ukrainian capital announced via Telegram.

The Ukrainian Air Force said Russian fighter jets fired cruise missiles near the town of Engels on the Volga River. A total of eight missiles were detected. Four of them were shot down over northern and central Ukraine. However, no effects or damages were reported. It added that some of the guided missiles may have been dummy models.

08:27 – Two drones were shot down over the border area with Ukraine

According to the Ministry of Defense, the Russian armed forces repelled drone attacks on the regions bordering Ukraine. And the ministry announced via the „Telegram” news service that a drone was shot down over the Bryansk and Kursk regions. It was not announced at first if there were any injuries or damages.

04:38 – attacks on Kiev and Cherkasy

Several regions in Ukraine were reported to have been hit by rockets. Among other things, air defenses have been activated on the outskirts of Kiev, the military administration of the Ukrainian capital announced via Telegram. The governor of Cherkassy, ​​Ihor Taboriz, also wrote on his Telegram channel that the central region of Ukraine has activated air defenses. Nothing was initially known about damage or casualties. The information could not be independently verified.

20:55 – Ukraine is preparing for further mobilization

According to the Ukrainian leadership, they are preparing further recruitment for the defensive fight against Russia. „Yes, the army has contacted us, and it is possible that there will be an additional call-up,” Oleksiyi Danilov, secretary of the National Security and Defense Council, told Ukrainian radio on Saturday. However, he stressed that the mobilization will not exceed the standards already set at the beginning of the war on February 24, 2022.

According to Danilov, this is not an unplanned action. The mobilization has been going on for a year and a half, and several stages have already been completed. The senior official in Kiev said: „There is no need to make a fuss about this matter, everything is going according to the plan that we are currently pursuing.”

8:15 p.m. – Ukraine says two people have been killed in a Russian bombing of a cafe

According to the local government, two civilians were killed and another wounded in a Russian attack on a cafe in northeastern Ukraine. Governor Oleh Sinyhopov told Telegram that the attack on the facility in Podoli, a suburb of the city of Kobyansk, took place on Saturday morning. Rescue workers are on site.

British military intelligence believes that it is possible that Russia will try to retake the Kobyansk region after Ukrainian forces regained control of it in a counter-attack last September. Prior to that, the region was under Russian occupation for more than six months.

5:02 p.m. – Russia reports shooting down a drone near Belgorod

The Russian Ministry of Defense announced that another drone was shot down near the city of Belgorod, near the Ukrainian border. The ministry said the drone was approaching the city, but did not comment on possible casualties or damage. Belgorod is about 45 kilometers from the Ukrainian border.

Meanwhile, the governor of the region of the same name, Vyacheslav Gladkov, accused the Ukrainian army of bombing a border village with cluster munitions, injuring six civilians. Gladko did not provide any evidence of the use of these controversial weapons, the shrapnel of which is scattered over a large area. Ukraine received cluster bombs from the United States for the first time last month, but has vowed to use them only to disperse enemy soldiers.