Fighting intensifies around key town in Ukraine amid fresh attacks on Russian energy
By Tim Lister, Kosta Gak and Victoria Butenko, CNN
Kyiv, Ukraine (CNN) — Fighting for control of the strategic hub of Pokrovsk in eastern Ukraine is intensifying, with the Russian Defense Ministry claiming to have eliminated a group of Ukrainian special forces sent to help defend the area.
In recent weeks, Russian units have begun penetrating Pokrovsk itself and have closed in on the last resupply routes used to sustain Ukrainian forces in the town.
The Ukrainian special forces had landed in a helicopter on the northwestern outskirts of Pokrovsk, according to the Russian Defense Ministry. Drone footage shared by an unofficial Russian Telegram channel showed Ukrainian soldiers fanning out from a Blackhawk helicopter. Eleven of the troops that had landed were killed, the Defense ministry claimed. It’s unclear when the mission took place.
A source in Ukrainian intelligence told CNN that the claim was untrue. Stabilization efforts led by the head of Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence Kyrylo Budanov continue in Pokrovsk, the source added.
The Ukrainian 7th Aerial Assault Corps also said there had been a successful landing in the Pokrovsk area. “It was a complex operation that required the synchronized actions of various units,” it said.
Ukrainian units have managed to improve their tactical position in several districts of the city, according to the Corps. “We are increasing the number of assault groups in Pokrovsk,” it said, adding that 85 Russian soldiers had been killed in Pokrovsk over the past week.
The Ukrainian military’s commander, General Oleksandr Syrskyi, said Saturday that Pokrovsk and the neighboring town of Myrnohrad were “not surrounded or blocked, and we are doing everything we can to maintain logistics.”
“A comprehensive operation to destroy and dislodge enemy forces from Pokrovsk is ongoing,” Syrskyi said, adding that he had visited the area to coordinate its defense.
Enemy units continued “to attempt to infiltrate residential areas and cut off our supply routes,” he added.
For its part, the Russian Defense Ministry asserted Saturday that its units “continue to destroy surrounded Ukrainian Armed Forces formations in the area of the railway station” in Pokrovsk, and had repelled several attempts by Ukrainian forces to break out of the town. It added that the encirclement of Pokrovsk and Myrnohrad was tightening.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Tuesday that about 200 Russian troops had infiltrated Pokrovsk. Geolocated video has shown Russian soldiers in the southern part of the town, moving in small groups.
Ukrainian forces have tried to counter-attack, according to the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War, and had marginally advanced north of the town.
Were Pokrovsk to fall, it would be the largest urban area to be taken by Russian forces since they seized Bakhmut in May 2023. The town is a junction for road and railway lines and occupying it would bring Russian forces closer to the larger cities of Kramatorsk and Kostiantynivka in the industrial belt of Donetsk.
According to the unofficial Ukrainian DeepState website, which analyzes the battlefield, Russian forces gained 267 square kilometers of Ukrainian territory in October — the same as in September.
Efforts by the US President Donald Trump to get a ceasefire agreed in Ukraine have come to nothing, with the Kremlin insisting that the root causes of the conflict – including NATO’s expansion eastwards and what it has called the “Nazification” of Ukraine – must be addressed before there can be a truce.
Moscow has said that the original goals of what it calls its Special Military Operation are non-negotiable: sovereignty over four eastern regions of Ukraine, including Donetsk.
Pipelines blown up
As Russian forces edge forward along several parts of the frontline, Ukraine have continued their long-range efforts to destroy and disrupt Russia’s energy and military infrastructure.
On Friday, Ukrainian saboteurs blew up up three pipelines carrying fuel in the Moscow region, according to the country’s defense officials – the latest attack in a campaign by Kyiv to target refineries, pumping stations and pipelines.
“The ‘Koltsevoy’ oil pipeline, which supplied the Russian occupation army,” was disabled on Friday in a special operation, according to a statement from Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence (DI).
It published an image showing what appeared to be devices placed on three separate pipelines near Ramenskoye, south of Moscow, which were under anti-drone netting. Video published by DI showed an explosion that sent flames hundreds of meters into the air.
“All three lines used by the aggressor to transport gasoline, diesel, and aviation fuel were successfully and simultaneously blown up,” DI said.
Unlike many recent attacks using drones and missiles, the Ukrainians used a sabotage team to lay explosive devices at the site, according to the DI video.
There’s been no word from the Russian authorities on the explosion nor on any disruption to fuel supplies. But the local authorities in the nearby district of Zhukovsky reported power cuts for some consumers on Friday without specifying the cause.
The pipeline that forms a ring around Moscow is fed from several refineries. It is capable of pumping up to 3 million tons of aviation fuel, up to 2.8 million tons of diesel fuel, and up to 1.6 million tons of gasoline annually, according to DI.
Ukraine began targeting Russian energy infrastructure on a persistent basis in the summer, using longer-range drones and missiles to attack facilities deep inside Russian territory.
“Our strikes have had more impact than the sanctions [against Russia]” said Budanov. “We have caused much greater damage to the Russian Federation through direct action than any economic levers of influence that have been introduced so far.”
Ukraine’s President Zelensky said earlier this month that as much as 20% of Russian refining capacity had been taken out of action, and several Russian regions have reported petrol shortages.
Russia has imported more fuel from Belarus to compensate for the shortages.
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