Russia Ukraine war latest: Drone attack ‘wipes Russian arms depot off face of the Earth’, says Kyiv

Intense battles continued on the eastern Pokrovsk and Kurakhove fronts as Ukraine’s General Staff recorded 187 combat clashes over the past day.

Residential areas in Kharkiv – near the northeastern border – were also struck by Russian guided missiles, Ukrainska Pravda reported.

But Pokrovsk and Kurakove, both towns near the eastern city of Donetsk, faced the brunt of Russian assaults in the past day.

Ukrainian forces repelled 46 assaults towards the various settlements around the town of Pokrovsk, a key strategic city for the movement of Ukrainian supplies.

On the Kurakhove front, around 50 kilometres south of Pokrovsk and 50 kilometres west of Donetsk, 40 attacks were repelled.

Ukraine’s operation in Russia’s Kursk region is ongoing, with Russian forces striking their own territory 19 times with 39 guided bombs.

Ukrainian boxer Oleksandr Usyk was dramatically led away in handcuffs as he passed through a Polish airport.

Usyk, who was due in London, was detained in Krakow but spoke out soon after to clarify the incident was a misunderstanding.

In footage posted to social media, the heavyweight world champion was seen being led away into a lift by five police officers.

The sum of €160 million from the proceeds of frozen Russian assets will be allocated to meet Ukraine‘s urgent humanitarian needs for this winter, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has announced.

She added that a fuel power plant is being dismantled in Lithuania and will be rebuilt in Ukraine, where 80 per cent of the country’s thermal plants have been destroyed.

“We aim to restore 2.5 gw of capacity, which is 15 per cent of Ukraine‘s needs,” Von der Leyen said.

Below we have some of the latest photos from the frontline on Ukraine.

The two countries hope to boost their bilateral trade, it was announced in a joint press conference in Islamabad.

With Russia facing economic isolation following Western sanctions, trade between Russia and Pakistan hit $1 billion dollars last year.

“Even today, we looked at how to expand our relationship, and overcome this constraint of the banking system, which you know are facing sanctions, which obviously constrains our relationship, the volume of our relationship could have been much bigger,” Pakistani Foreign Minister Mohammad Ishaq Dar.

Moscow will also support Pakistan’s bid to join the BRICS alliance, currently consisting of Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia, and the United Arab Emirates. Pakistan applied in 2023.

Heavyweight boxing champion Oleksandr Usyk has been released after being briefly detained at Krakow airport in Poland, Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky said.

“I was disappointed by this attitude towards our citizen and champion,” Mr Zelensky said, following a phone call with Usyk. “Our champion has been released, and he is no longer being detained.”

He posted a photo of Usyk with Ukraine’s Consul General in Krakow after the athlete was released.

It was not immediately clear why the 37-year-old was detained. He is one of Ukraine’s most prominent athletes known abroad, and has organised and participated in different projects aiding his country’s efforts to resist Russia’s invasion.

Alexander Butler reports:

Mapped: Russia launches counterattack in Kursk after sending ‘significant’ forces to the region

Russia has brought in “significant” reinforcements to carry out a sweeping counterattack on the western flank of Ukraine’s incursion into the Kursk region, maps and analysis have revealed.

Russia’s initial response appeared muted as Vladimir Putin’s interest remained trained on an offensive towards the eastern Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk in the Donetsk region despite Kyiv’s hopes that their Kursk incursion would force Moscow to relocate troops away from that fight in the east.

But footage last week of a column of Russian tanks, believed to belong to a specialist Russian airborne forces (VDV) unit known to be among some of Moscow’s more elite troops, towards the western flank of Ukraine’s attack has presaged a rapid counteroffensive in that direction.

Vadym Mysnyk, a spokesperson for Ukraine’s Operational Command “Siversk”, told Ukrainian TV late last week that Moscow had bolstered its Kursk forces from 11,000 at the time of the Ukrainian incursion to up to 45,000.

Fronteligence Insight, a Ukrainian group that tracks the war and is known to have close ties to the military, added that those forces have been bolstered by numerous anti-aircraft and air defence systems.

While territorial defence units are being used to “contain Ukrainian forces”, the group wrote in an update, more mobile units such as tank battalions and air-assault regiments, supported by motor rifle units, are likely being tasked with “breaking through ad-hoc Ukrainian defences”.

Our foreign affairs reporter Tom Watling has more details:

Intense battles continued on the eastern Pokrovsk and Kurakhove fronts as Ukraine’s General Staff recorded 187 combat clashes over the past day.

Residential areas in Kharkiv – near the northeastern border – were also struck by Russian guided missiles, Ukrainska Pravda reported.

But Pokrovsk and Kurakove, both towns near the eastern city of Donetsk, faced the brunt of Russian assaults in the past day.

Ukrainian forces repelled 46 assaults towards the various settlements around the town of Pokrovsk, a key strategic city for the movement of Ukrainian supplies.

On the Kurakhove front, around 50 kilometres south of Pokrovsk and 50 kilometres west of Donetsk, 40 attacks were repelled.

Ukraine’s operation in Russia’s Kursk region is ongoing, with Russian forces striking their own territory 19 times with 39 guided bombs.