Ukraine war briefing: battle for Pokrovsk ‘raging on’ as Russia claims advance on town to east

Ukraine and Russia have issued conflicting accounts of fighting around Myrnohrad, an embattled town to the east of Pokrovsk, which Moscow’s forces have enveloped from almost all sides. The Ukrainian military said on Facebook on Monday that it had delivered supplies into Myrnohrad and rotated out troops fighting in the town, including those who were wounded. “Ukrainian units are confidently holding their positions and destroying the occupiers on the approaches to the town,” the statement said. “Logistics to the town are complicated, but are being carried out.” Russia’s defence ministry said on Telegram that its forces were advancing on the town, noting gains in two of its districts.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukrainian forces were holding their positions around Pokrovsk and Dobropillia, a town to the north, where Kyiv says its troops have made gains. Ukraine’s top military commander, Oleksandr Syrskyi, said Russia was concentrating about 150,000 troops on a drive to capture Pokrovsk, dubbed “the gateway to Donetsk” and in Russia’s sights for more than a year as it pushes to control the whole eastern Donetsk region. Mechanised groups and marine brigades were part of Russia’s push, he told the New York Post. “There are ongoing battles and fights raging on. There are fast manoeuvres carried out by the enemy all the time.”The battlefield reports could not be independently verified.

Russian troops were also advancing on villages in the Zaporizhzhia region further south, frontline reports suggested. The Russian defence ministry said two villages there – north-east of the town of Hulyaipole – were among the three it had captured along the 1,000km (620-mile) front line over the past 24 hours. Ukraine’s DeepState military blog noted “a significant increase in grey zones”, with uncertain control in Zaporizhzhia region.

Ukraine’s anti-corruption bureau said on Monday that it was conducting a large-scale investigation into the country’s energy sector, alleging kickbacks in transactions involving the state nuclear power operator, Energoatom. Luke Harding reports that the bureau, which operates independently of the government, alleged that several senior figures were involved. Ukrainian media identified one of them as Timur Mindich, a businessman and associate of Ukraine’s president Zelenskyy. Mindich reportedly fled abroad hours before investigators arrived at his Kyiv apartment to carry out a search.

Germany will increase financial aid to Ukraine to €11.5bn ($13.41bn) in the 2026 budget, up from €8.5bn previously planned, according to budget documents seen by Reuters on Monday. Germany is Europe’s largest contributor of military aid to Ukraine, having provided around €40bn euros since Russia’s 2022 invasion.

Ukraine’s special forces said they had hit a pumping station at a Russian oil depot in the occupied Crimean peninsula overnight. “The Hvardiyska oil depot is an important element of the fuel logistics system of the occupying authorities in Crimea,” the special forces said on Telegram on Monday. “It is important for supplying military facilities and transport of the enemy army.” Meanwhile, a Ukrainian drone attack damaged civilian infrastructure in the Saratov region, the governor of the western Russian region said on Tuesday. “All emergency services were deployed to the scene,” Roman Basurgin said on Telegram.

Belgium has enlisted the help of foreign armed forces to seize or track down drones that have made incursions around its airports, military bases and a nuclear plant, with officials saying it all bears the hallmarks of Russian interference. “We’re not saying it’s Russia – we’re saying it looks like Russia,” said a Belgian official, speaking on condition of anonymity. ‘It’s impossible to connect any incident with an actor. We have nothing.” The official said Belgium was “working with partners to try to get our hands on a drone, or detect where it is launched from and where it’s going”. Russia has denied involvement with the drones.

Lukoil declared force majeure at its Iraqi oil field, sources told Reuters on Monday, and Bulgaria was poised to seize its Burgas refinery, as the Russian company’s international operations buckled under the strain of US sanctions. The force majeure at the West Qurna-2 field in Iraq marks the biggest fallout yet from the sanctions imposed on Russian oil majors Lukoil and Rosneft last month as part of US president Donald Trump’s push to end the war in Ukraine.