Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Russia has deployed more than 170,000 troops in the Eastern Ukrainian Donetsk region, targeting the city of Pokrovsk. Russia has intensified its military operations in Kupiansk, where more than 10,000 Ukrainian troops have been encircled.
Besides, Russian forces have also taken hold of two important regions over the past week. During his address in Kyiv, Zelenskyy described the situation as “difficult” but denied Russian claims that the city is fully surrounded.
"There are Russians in Pokrovsk," Zelenskyy said. "They are being destroyed, gradually destroyed, because, well, we need to preserve our personnel." The battle for this strategic city marks one of Russia’s largest offensives in months, as President Vladimir Putin seeks to demonstrate and capture more Ukrainian territory.
Putin is trying to persuade the United States, which has urged him to get the peace deal done before the end of 2025. Instead of pushing back the Russian advances, Kyiv has pulled back forces from several cities in order to preserve its fighting force.
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But it has held out in Pokrovsk despite more than a year of intense fighting, Zelenskyy said. Earlier, Ukrainian drone strikes hit 16 Russian oil refineries, bringing oil production down by 35 per cent on Friday.
In response, Russian airstrikes on the north-eastern Ukrainian city of Sumy injured 11 people overnight, including four children, officials in Kyiv said. The strikes hit a residential high-rise and infrastructure facilities, according to an online message posted by emergency officials on a social media platform.
Meanwhile, in one of the surprising developments, Taiwan’s opposition party leader, Cheng Li-wun, has defended the Russian president, saying that considering Putin a dictator is wrong and described him as “a president elected through democratic votes."
She added, "Pinning that label on him is unreasonable and unfair." The escalations in the Ukraine war are set to intensify in the coming days with the latest Russian offensive in the eastern parts of the country.
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