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The latest strike comes amid fierce fighting in the Donetsk region
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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, Mr Syrskyi told the New York Post.
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.
Volodymyr Zelensky has said that weather conditions are favouring Russian forces in their quest to seize Pokrovsk, which looks increasingly imminent.
But why is that the case?
Although the Ukrainian president didn’t go into more detail in his post on social media, it is likely to be a reference to the difficulties of operating drones in rain, wind and fog.
Drone warfare has transformed the way the Russia-Ukraine war has been carried out, and has been a lynchpin to Ukraine’s fierce defense of its frontline.
Calm and clear days, with little or no wind, are the most favourable conditions for a drone pilot, ensuring GPS stability and strong satellite connection.
Conditions have been chilly around Pokrovsk, with night time temperatures dropping low into the single digits. There have been some showers, with more expected overnight on Tuesday, according to Accuweather.
This makes defending Pokrovsk, which relies heavily on drones for surveillance and precision strikes, all the more difficult under some already-tough conditions.
Volodymyr Zelensky has share a military update from commander-in-chief Oleksandr Syrskyi Russia’s assaults on Pokrovsk and in the Zaporizhzhia region.
The situation remains “difficult” in Pokrovsk, he said, adding that it is “in part because of weather conditions that favour the attacks”.
The Ukrainian president added: “The situation in Kupyansk is somewhat easier – our forces have achieved results there, and this has been the pattern for the past few weeks.”
Ukrainian defensive forces are also focussed on the Zaporizhzhia region, where trhe Russians have been increasing the “number and scale of assaults”, he added.
Russian president Vladimir Putin gave no order to begin preparations for nuclear weapons testing, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said.
“The president gave no instructions to begin preparations,” Peskov told state owned VGTRK.
“First of all, we must understand whether we should do it. This must be a serious, well-founded and thought-out decision. So our specialists will work on that.”
Ukraine’s special forces have struck a Russian oil depot in occupied Crimea, officials have said.
“The Hvardiyska oil depot is an important element of the fuel logistics system of the occupying authorities in Crimea,” the special forces stated on Telegram.
“It is important for supplying military facilities and transport of the enemy army.”
The Independent could not independently verify the report.
Not a word of what the Russian defence ministry says is credible. Its claims that Russian troops have surrounded Ukrainian forces in Pokrovsk, Kostyantynivka and Kupiansk, in eastern Ukraine, are agitprop.
But Volodymyr Zelensky’s statement from the front line that his country’s fighters are “under pressure” is something of an understatement.
Ukraine’s top military commander, Oleksandr Syrskyi, told the New York Post that Russia was concentrating some 150,000 troops on a drive to capture the town, which is much prized by Russia.
Dozens, perhaps hundreds, of Russian troops may have already successfully infiltrated the three tactically important towns.
Our world affairs editor Sam Kiley writes:
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.
We’ll bring you more detail as we get it.
Russia’s air defence units destroyed 37 Ukrainian drones overnight over seven Russian regions and the Crimean Peninsula, RIA news agency reported on Tuesday, citing daily data from the Russian defence ministry.
Moscow does not usually release the full number of drones fired by Ukraine in its overnight attacks.
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