Volodymyr Zelensky has said the military situation in Pokrovsk remains “difficult”, with the bad weather in the area favouring Russian forces.
Sharing an update from Ukraine’s commander-in-chief Oleksandr Syrskyi, the Ukrainian president said Kyiv’s “main focus right now is on the Pokrovsk direction and the Zaporizhzhia region, where the Russians are increasing the number and scale of assaults”.
Ukrainian forces face a difficult situation in Pokrovsk “in part because of weather conditions that favour the attacks”, he said.
Russia deployed about 150,000 troops to drive towards the city in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, Syrskyi said.
Kyiv’s military said on Tuesday morning that there were believed to be around 300 Russian troops inside the town, which Moscow has been trying to capture for more than a year.
“The situation in Kupyansk is somewhat easier – our forces have achieved results there, and this has been the pattern for the past few weeks,” Mr Zelensky added, referring to the northern city which Moscow on Wednesday claimed to have partial control over.
His comments came after Ukraine’s military struck Russia’s Saratov oil refinery overnight, causing explosions and a large fire in the area around the site in the latest attack on Russian energy facilities.
Putin briefed on Moscow’s economic issues by Sberbank chief
The head of Russia’s Sberbank German Gref spoke to Russia’s economic problems in a meeting with Vladimir Putin, the Institute for the Study of War said.
His bank was experiencing only “very modest” growth due to “challenging macroeconomic conditions” including a shrinkage of its consumer loan portfolio, while 2025 growth was worse than the bank expected, the US-based think tank said.
“Gref’s statements are notable,” the ISW assessed, “as Russian officials have largely refrained from admitting to any weakness in Russia’s economy and as the Kremlin has undertaken an information campaign to portray the Russian economy as stable and strong”.
Watch: Huge explosion erupts at Russia’s major oil port after Ukraine strikes with new Flamingo missile
Ukrainian drone attack sparks industrial fire in Russia’s Stavropol
A Ukrainian drone attack sparked a fire in an industrial zone in the Stavropol region, Vladimir Vladimirov, regional governor of the area in southern Russia, said this morning.
There were no casualties, Vladimirov said on the Telegram messaging app, without revealing further detail on what industrial facility was on fire.
Ukraine charges seven in $100m energy graft scandal
Ukrainian authorities charged seven individuals yesterday in relation to an alleged $100m kickback scheme involving senior energy officials that has caused public angernd focused attention on Kyiv’s battle against corruption.
The National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine said in a statement that it had detained five suspects and identified two others in a plot to control procurement at state enterprises, particularly nuclear agency Energoatom. None were named.
A source familiar with the matter said the suspect described by NABU as the chief organiser is Timur Mindich, a former business associate of President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
Mindich did not immediately respond to a request for comment sent to Kvartal 95, a production studio he co-owns where Zelenskiy built his comedy career before his election in 2019.
Others charged in the probe include a former adviser to the energy minister, Energoatom’s head of security and four so-called back office workers. NABU later identified an ex-deputy prime minister as another suspect.
Ukraine is under pressure to crack down on graft as it seeks European Union membership and courts critical financial support from Western partners while fending off massive Russian attacks on its energy system.
Accusations of kickbacks in the energy sector are particularly sensitive with the broader public, which is facing lengthy daily blackouts across much of the country even before cold winter temperatures set in.
Russia says it foiled Ukrainian-British plot to steal a MiG-31 jet
Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) said it had foiled a plot by Ukrainian and British spies to tempt Russian pilots to steal a MiG-31 jet armed with a Kinzhal hypersonic missile for $3m , state media reported.
The RIA news agency cited the FSB as saying that the hijacked jet was to be flown toward a Nato air base in the Romanian city of Constanta, where it could have been shot down by air defences, the agency reported.
The FSB, the main successor to the Soviet-era KGB, said Ukraine and Britain had planned a large-scale “provocation” using the hijacked aircraft, and that Ukrainian military intelligence had sought to recruit Russian pilots for $3m to steal the fighter.
“The measures taken have thwarted the Ukrainian and British intelligence services plans for a large-scale provocation,” RIA cited the FSB as saying.
State TV showed pictures of messages and recordings of a man who they said was working for Ukrainian and British intelligence and had offered $3m to a Russian pilot to fly a MiG to Europe and that the pilot had also been offered citizenship.
Russia’s Kinzhal is an air-launched ballistic missile that Moscow calls hypersonic, capable of very high speeds and manoeuvring flight paths intended to make it difficult for air defences to track and intercept.
Russia bars 30 Japanese individuals in response to Ukraine sanctions
Russia imposed entry bans on 30 Japanese individuals, including a foreign ministry official, in response to sanctions introduced by Tokyo as part of moves to denounce Moscow’s actions in its more than three-year-old war in Ukraine.
The Russian Foreign Ministry issued a list of affected Japanese nationals, which included several journalists and academics. It described the prohibition as “indefinite.”
Included among those barred was Japanese foreign ministry press official Toshihiro Kitamura.
The Japanese government in September placed sanctions on Russian companies, individuals and several other entities.
Japan also lowered its cap on Russian seaborne crude, following similar moves from Western countries.
Ukraine’s top commander warns situation has worsened in Zaporizhzhia region
Ukraine’s top military commander Oleksandr Syrskyi said that the army’s situation has “significantly worsened” in parts of southeastern Zaporizhzhia region amid fierce fighting with Russian forces.
“The situation has significantly worsened in the Oleksandrivka and Huliapole directions, where, using its numerical superiority in personnel and materiel, the enemy advanced in fierce fighting and captured three settlements,” Syrskyi wrote on Telegram.
Russian forces roll ‘Mad Max’-style into battered Pokrovsk city
Russia said its forces had pushed deeper into the eastern Ukrainian cities of Pokrovsk and Kupiansk yesterday, with one video showing Russian soldiers rolling into Pokrovsk on motorbikes and even on the roofs of battered cars and vans.
Russian military bloggers published a video showing what they said were Russian forces entering Pokrovsk along a road enveloped in fog, in what some Telegram users said looked like scenes from the 1979 action film “Mad Max”, which unfolds in a post-apocalyptic landscape.
The video showed Russian forces on motorcycles and in an odd assortment of cars and other vehicles. Many vehicles, missing doors and windows, were shown driving along a road strewn with debris as soldiers looked on.
Some Russian soldiers sat on the roof of a battered vehicle. A drone was seen beside the road.
The location of the video was not immediately clear as Pokrovsk from the road layout, signs, utility tower, and trees seen in the video, which matched file and satellite imagery of the area.
Moscow says taking Pokrovsk, dubbed “the gateway to Donetsk” by Russian media, would give it a platform to drive north towards the two biggest remaining Ukrainian-controlled cities in the Donetsk region – Kramatorsk and Sloviansk.
Russia’s defence units destroy Ukrainian drone heading towards Moscow
Russia’s air defence units destroyed a Ukrainian drone that was heading towards Moscow, Sergei Sobyanin, the mayor of the Russian capital, said this morning.
There was no immediate comment from Ukraine. Kyiv has previously said that its attacks are aimed at destroying infrastructure key to conducting Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Russia claims control over village in Zaporizhzhia region
Russia’s defence ministry has claimed that its forces have captured the village of Novouspenivske in Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region.
The Independent cannot independently verify the report, but authoritative Ukrainian battlefield map DeepState indicates that Russian troops have surrounded the village.
