As battle for Ukraine’s Pokrovsk heats up, Putin touts nuclear-powered arms

Russian and Ukrainian forces are interlocked successful hopeless battles for power of Ukraine’s eastbound towns of Pokrovsk and Myrnohrad, which Moscow considers a gateway to the remaining unoccupied areas of the Donetsk region.

On Sunday, Valery Gerasimov, Russian main of staff,  told President Vladimir Putin his 2nd and 51st Combined Arms Armies were “advancing on converging axes” and “have completed the encirclement of the enemy” successful Pokrovsk and Myrnohrad.

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He claimed immoderate 5,500 Ukrainian troops were surrounded, including elite airborne and marine units.

Russian subject reporters contradicted these claims, with 1 named “Military Informant” telling 621,000 Telegram subscribers, “There is simply nary encirclement” arsenic the 2 claws of Gerasimov’s attempted pincer question were inactive “several kilometres” apart.

On Thursday, Oleksandr Syrskii, the Ukrainian commander-in-chief, besides denied Gerasimov’s claim.

“The statements of Russian propaganda astir the alleged ‘blocking’ of the defence forces of Ukraine successful Pokrovsk, arsenic good arsenic successful Kupiansk, bash not correspond to reality,” Syrskii said.

The Russian newsman besides thought it “extremely unlikely” that thousands of Ukrainian troops were trapped.

“If earlier municipality battles were a classical nutrient grinder ‘head-to-head’ with battles for each house,” helium said, present they are “conducted by tiny groups of infantry with the enactment of galore drones”.

Geolocated footage showed that isolated Russian groups had entered occidental and cardinal Pokrovsk connected October 23, but they did not look to power areas wrong the city, alternatively to involvement retired positions and await reinforcements.

Ukraine’s General Staff said the concern astir Pokrovsk “remains difficult”, and estimated that immoderate 200 Russian troops had infiltrated the town, but said defending units were conducting sabotage operations that prevented Russian units from gaining a imperishable foothold.

The beforehand astir Pokrovsk besides remained dynamic.

Ukrainian subject perceiver Konstantyn Mashovets reported that Kyiv’s troops were capable to ambush Russian rear positions successful the colony of Sukhetsky, northeast of Pokrovsk, demonstrating the porousness of the beforehand line.

“[Russian] tiny infantry groups successful immoderate places began to collide with Ukrainian corresponding groups rather often and suddenly, adjacent earlier their deployment oregon erstwhile moving to fortify and replenish their battle groups directly,” said Mashovets.

“Due to the abundance of drones successful the air, which marque the question of immoderate ample concentrations of infantry highly dangerous, the positions of some sides stay mixed,” said Kremlin-aligned Russian subject quality outlet Rybar. “This leads to the lack of a azygous beforehand enactment and prevents the determination of the nonstop boundaries of the power zones.”

Mashovets estimated that the Russian 2nd Combined Arms Army, which helium described arsenic the “main interaction force”, had received reinforcements of betwixt 6,000 and 10,500 troops from different areas of the beforehand up of the latest assault, which began successful mid-October.

“Special attraction is focused connected Pokrovsk and the neighbouring areas. That is wherever the occupier has concentrated its largest battle forces,” said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy successful a Monday evening address. “It is Pokrovsk that is their main objective.”

Ukraine strikes Russian vigor hubs

Zelenskyy has often said his nonsubjective is to instrumentality the warfare to Russian soil. Ukraine’s long-range drones and cruise missiles were performing that task during the past week.

Ukraine struck the Ryazan lipid refinery for the 5th clip this twelvemonth connected October 23, mounting ablaze a crude lipid distillation unit. Russia’s Defence Ministry said 139 Ukrainian drones had been changeable down overnight.

Leningrad’s determination politician said “several” Ukrainian drones had been changeable down without causing harm oregon casualties connected Saturday.

Ukraine struck a substance and lubricants instrumentality successful Simferopol connected Wednesday, Crimean concern Governor Sergey Aksyonov said.

Putin boasts of weapons ‘nobody other successful the satellite has’

Russian officials who person been supportive of US President Donald Trump’s efforts to negociate a bid straight with Putin changed their code aft Trump cancelled a acme with Putin and imposed sanctions connected Russian lipid majors Lukoil and Rosneft past week.

“The US is our adversary, and its verbose ‘peacemaker’ is present firmly connected the warpath against Russia,” said Dmitry Medvedev, lawman seat of Russia’s National Security Council, saying Trump was present “completely aligned with huffy Europe”.

Over cakes and beverage with Russian warfare veterans connected Monday, Putin announced the palmy trial motorboat of a caller nuclear-powered torpedo with the quality to make radioactive tidal waves targeting coastal regions.

The Poseidon reportedly has a scope of 10,000km (6,200 miles) and travels astatine 185km/h (115mph). As with erstwhile unveilings of Russian weapons, Putin said, “There’s thing similar it successful the world, its rivals are improbable to look anytime soon, and determination are nary existing interception methods”.

Duma Defence Committee Chairman Andrey Kartapolov said the Poseidon was“capable of disabling full states”.

Three days earlier, Putin had announced the palmy trial of a caller nuclear-capable cruise missile, the Burevestnik, which is besides nuclear-powered.

“It is simply a unsocial ware which cipher other successful the satellite has,” Putin said.

Russia followed a akin governmental intimidation maneuver successful November 2024, erstwhile it launched the Oreshnik, a hypersonic, intermediate-range ballistic, nuclear-capable missile, to deed a Ukrainian mill successful Dnipro. On Tuesday, Putin said helium would deploy the Oreshnik successful Belarus by December.

Russia besides tested the Sarmat, a caller intercontinental ballistic rocket that Putin said is not yet operational, successful the Sea of Japan. None of the tests were independently verified, and it was unclear whether immoderate of the caller weapons were battle-ready oregon whether they could beryllium produced astatine scale.

On October 22, Moscow conducted a regular strategical forces exercise, sending Tupolev-22M3 long-range bombers implicit the Baltic Sea, framing it arsenic a absorption to Western aggression.

Trump said connected Monday that Putin should alternatively absorption connected ending the war.

“I don’t deliberation it’s an due happening for Putin to beryllium saying,” said the US president. “You ought to get the warfare ended; the warfare that should person taken 1 week is present successful … its 4th year, that’s what you ought to bash alternatively of investigating missiles.”