Overview
- Russia’s defense ministry says its forces captured Mala Tokmatschka and Rivnopillia in Zaporizhzhia, pushing toward routes near Hulyaipole and raising encirclement risks for key towns.
- Urban combat continues inside Pokrovsk, where analysts warn the city is at risk; Ukraine reports limited counterattacks that briefly enabled resupply of Pokrovsk and nearby Myrnohrad.
- Overnight strikes hit multiple Ukrainian regions, with the air force reporting one Iskander missile and 176 drones launched by Russia; at least three people were killed in Balakliia in the Kharkiv region.
- Ukraine extends its campaign against Russian energy assets, with a new drone strike setting a fire at the Veshkayma power substation in Ulyanovsk and a reported attack on the Novokuibyshevsk refinery in Samara.
- President Volodymyr Zelenskyy pursues a €2 billion winter gas deal in Greece and seeks French air-defense systems and fighter support in Paris, while Kyiv works to restart prisoner exchanges that could free about 1,200 Ukrainians.