Ukraine-Russia war latest: Putin’s forces gain foothold in strategic town of Pokrovsk as drones target Moscow

Ukraine launched several drones targeting the Budyonnovsk industrial zone in Russia’s Stavropol region, the region’s governor Vladimir Vladimirov said this morning.

The attack caused no significant damage, and there were no casualties, Vladimirov said on his Telegram channel.

This is the third night in a row Russia has been attacked by Ukrainian drones.

Russian soldiers have gained a foothold in the strategic eastern Ukrainian town of Pokrovsk, Volodymyr Zelensky said.

The Ukrainian president said Russia had devoted vast numbers of troops to capturing the town, which is a key part of Kyiv’s defensive lines in Donetsk, but that it had so far failed to do so.

He said Vladimir Putin’s forces outnumbered Ukrainians there by eight to one. “Imagine how many Russian forces are there. But at the same time, they have not achieved the planned result,” he said.

Russia controls about 75 per cent of the Donetsk region. About 6,600 sq km (2,548 square miles) is still under Ukraine’s control.

The Ukrainian open-source mapping project Deep State in the past week has reduced the area to the southwest of Pokrovsk that it considers under Ukrainian control, increasing the area “requiring clarification” to around one-fifth of the city. The city was a key Ukrainian logistics hub before the war.

In the past one year, Russian forces have gradually advanced toward Pokrovsk after capturing the long-time Ukrainian stronghold of Avdiivka, which lies around 25 miles to the southeast.

President Volodymyr Zelensky says Ukrainian and European officials will meet at the end of the week to discuss details of a ceasefire plan.

“It is not a plan to end the war. First of all, a ceasefire is needed,” Mr Zelensky said.

“This is a plan to begin diplomacy… Our advisers will meet in the coming days, we agreed on Friday or Saturday. They will discuss the details of this plan.”

On Tuesday, he spoke to the Finnish president, the Dutch foreign minister and the Lithuanian Speaker.

He said he would work on a plan for a ceasefire “in the coming 10 days”.

Belarus will deploy Russia’s new Oreshnik intermediate-range hypersonic missile system in December, Russian state-run Tass news agency reports.

Natalya Eismont, spokesperson for Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko, said preparations for the deployment were nearing completion.

Mr Lukashenko said the deployment was a response to what he called Western escalation.

The Oreshnik missiles featured in joint Russian-Belarusian military exercises last month.

Permanent year-round military conscription is set to be introduced in Russia after politicians endorsed a bill mandating it as authorities seek to fill the ranks.

At the moment conscription is done in spring and autumn.

The bill will allow conscription offices to summon draftees for medical exams and other procedures at any time of the year but it still stipulates that conscripts will enter military service only during spring and summer months as before.

All Russian men aged 18-30 are obliged to serve in the military for one year, although many avoid the draft by using deferments granted to students, declaring chronic illnesses and other reasons.

Russian authorities say the military does not use draftees in Ukraine, relying on volunteers and reservists mobilised for action. But human-rights activists and media reports have said the military has encouraged or coerced many draftees into signing contracts as volunteers.

Last year, Mr Putin ordered the number of active troops to be increased by 180,000, to 1.5 million. He said last month that over 700,000 troops were fighting in Ukraine.

Putin has created several initiatives to encourage childbirth, such as one-time payments for pregnant teens, writes Katie Marie Davies:

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Tuesday Ukraine had secured the funds to buy 70 per cent of the natural gas it needs to import this winter and that the Ukrainian government would make up the rest of the funding.

His comments appeared intended to reassure Ukrainians that their energy needs will be met this winter after Russia stepped up attacks on energy facilities in its war in Ukraine.

Russian drone and missile strikes have deprived Ukraine of 55% of domestic gas production, according to the head of the country’s central bank, forcing the government to import an additional 4 billion cubic meters of natural gas to prevent cities from freezing.