Russia ramps up its offensive in eastern Ukraine with the situation around Pokrovsk markedly deteriorating, the Financial Times said. Russia launches this month’s seventh attack on gas facilities, damaging sites in Poltava region. Russia’s latest attempt to woo the U.S. reeks of desperation, The Telegraph says.
Russia ramps up offensive in eastern Ukraine with situation around Pokrovsk markedly deteriorating, FT says
Russia has intensified its offensive in eastern Ukraine. The situation markedly deteriorated around Pokrovsk in the past weeks as small groups of Russian units started seeping through thinly manned Ukrainian defences and entered the town, the Financial Times (FT) said Monday. The paragraphs below are quoted from the article.
Manpower shortages in Ukrainian frontline brigades have made it easier for Russian forces to identify and exploit defensive gaps.
War monitoring groups have confirmed the presence of Russian units south of the train tracks dividing Pokrovsk in half.
Russia’s main offensive effort has remained focused on the agglomeration of Pokrovsk-Myrnohrad, two mining towns with a prewar population of about 100,000 people.
In the past year, Russian forces slowly advanced north and south of the two cities in an attempt to surround it or put crucial logistical routes in range of its drones.
Russia has positioned its main strike force against Pokrovsk, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi said in his nightly address on Sunday.
At least 250 Russian troops are inside the city, Ukrainian news outlet Ukrainska Pravda said on October 24, citing unnamed sources in military brigades deployed to the area. Russian forces engage in small arms fights and target Ukrainian soldiers on their positions, particularly drone pilots, it added.
According to Ukrainska Pravda, Ukrainian supply lines to Pokrovsk are within range of Russian drones. Ukrainian troops have to walk 10-15 kilometers to reach their positions. There is a risk that Pokrovsk and Myrnohrad could be encircled.
Russia launches this month’s seventh attack on gas facilities, damaging sites in Poltava region
Russia carried out an attack on Ukraine’s gas infrastructure overnight on Tuesday, damaging gas production facilities of the Ukrainian state oil and gas company Naftogaz in Poltava region, the company’s chairman of the board, Serhiy Koretskyi told reporters.
“There were six major attacks in October alone. It was the seventh one tonight. [Gas] extraction facilities in Poltava region got damaged,” Koretskyi said.
The company’s workers are making all efforts to repair the damage, he added.
Russia’s October strikes caused losses in gas production, that’s why Naftogaz has developed a plan for additional imports of gas to secure its stable supply, Koretskyi said.
Russia’s latest attempt to woo the U.S. reeks of desperation, The Telegraph says
Kirill Dmitriev, the Kremlin’s top economic envoy, was dispatched to Washington last week after sanctions were imposed on Russian oil firms and a Trump-Putin meeting was cancelled. His business trip reeked of desperation and was unsuccessful, The Telegraph said on Monday. The paragraphs below are quoted from the article.
With relations between Moscow and Washington at an all-time low since Mr Trump took office, Mr Dmitriev was dispatched to Miami and Washington to rescue them.
“The fact that Putin dispatched Kirill Dmitriev to Washington within minutes of the US sanctioning Lukoil and Rosneft shows just how rattled Putin is,” said Sir William Browder, the American-born English financier and political activist.
Russian sources, cited in a report by AFP, claimed Mr Dmitriev held talks with Trump administration officials on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. But the US president, Mr Rubio and Scott Bessent, the treasury secretary, were all on a tour of Asia. That left Steve Witkoff, Mr Trump’s peace envoy, who until recently was the man leading US talks with Russia. However, his position appeared to have been downgraded when Mr Rubio was handed responsibility for preparing the now-cancelled talks between the US president and Putin.
Despite knowing that there would be a lack of dance partners with clout, Mr Dmitriev made the journey to the US anyway. It perhaps offers a glimpse at just how worried the Kremlin is about Mr Trump’s new hostility to Moscow.
Recent events suggest that Putin only reaches out to Washington when he has concerns.
The measures on Lukoil and Rosneft were followed by reports from China that Beijing would stop buying Russian oil. Similar announcements had been made in India in response to secondary US trade tariffs on New Delhi for continued purchases of cheap Russian fossil fuels.
This news was enough to prompt Mr Dmitriev to make a desperate trip to the US, in the hope of sparking a sharp U-turn from Washington decision-makers.
The smiley interaction [Dmitriev’s meeting with Russia-friendly members of the Republican Party, particularly with Anna Paulina Luna – edit.] would be a small consolation for what appeared to be a dismally unsuccessful visit to the US.
