Ukraine war briefing: Ukraine says its troops still holding out in embattled Pokrovsk

Ukraine’s top military commander said his troops were still holding out in the embattled eastern city of Pokrovsk, which Moscow said its forces were at last enclosing in a pincer movement after more than a year of fighting. “We are holding Pokrovsk,” Ukraine’s army chief Oleksandr Syrskyi said on Facebook on Saturday. “A comprehensive operation to destroy and dislodge enemy forces from Pokrovsk is ongoing.” Ukraine’s military said that it had improved its positions in some districts. Kyiv is raising the number of its assault troops in the area, the 7th Rapid Response Corps said on Facebook, adding that the situation remained “difficult and dynamic”. Capturing Pokrovsk, dubbed “the gateway to Donetsk”, would be the most important Russian territorial gain inside Ukraine since Moscow took the ruined city of Avdiivka in early 2024.

Russian troops thwarted an attempt by Ukrainian special forces to fly soldiers in via a helicopter into Pokrovsk, Russia’s defence ministry said on Saturday. All 11 Ukrainians aboard the helicopter were killed, the ministry said. Two Ukrainian military sources said on Saturday that Kyiv had landed special forces to fight in parts of Pokrovsk, as Moscow said its troops had surrounded Ukrainian contingents.

Data shows Russia fired more missiles at Ukraine in overnight attacks during October than in any month since at least the start of 2023. Russia’s army fired 270 missiles over October, up 46% on the previous month, according to an AFP analysis of daily data published by Ukraine’s air force. The strikes, which have targeted Ukraine’s fragile energy grid for the fourth winter running, have cut power to hundreds of thousands of people. It is part of what Kyiv and its backers say is a deliberate and cynical strategy to wear down Ukraine’s civilian population – a charge Russia denies.

A Russian strike set ablaze a shop in Ukraine’s southeastern Dnipropetrovsk region on Saturday, killing two people and injuring several others, the region’s acting governor said. Vladislav Haivanenko, writing on Telegram, said the shop was destroyed and seven dwellings were damaged in the attack in Samarivskyi district – just outside the region’s main city, Dnipro. Public broadcaster Suspilne said seven people were injured. Pictures posted online showed a large blaze amid piles of rubble. Ukraine’s emergency services said one person had been killed in an attack on the town of Marhanets, further south in Dnipropetrovsk region.

Russian energy company Gazprom’s average daily natural gas supplies to Europe via the TurkStream undersea pipeline rose 5% in October from the previous months, Reuters calculations showed on Saturday. Turkey is the only transit route left for Russian gas to Europe after Ukraine chose not to extend a five-year transit deal with Moscow when it expired on 1 January.

Germany’s defence minister is confident its fractious ruling coalition can agree on a new model of military service in time for it to come into effect next year as planned, given security concerns over Russia, he told news agency Reuters on Saturday. The cabinet has already agreed to minister Boris Pistorius’ proposal for a new voluntary military service to help boost the number of recruits and reservists. The plan still requires approval by German parliament.