Ukraine-Russia war latest: Zelensky says bad weather favours Moscow in ‘difficult’ battle for Pokrovsk
Volodymyr Zelensky has said the military situation in Pokrovsk remains “difficult”, with the bad weather in the area favouring Russian forces.
Sharing an update from Ukraine’s commander-in-chief Oleksandr Syrskyi, the Ukrainian president said Kyiv’s “main focus right now is on the Pokrovsk direction and the Zaporizhzhia region, where the Russians are increasing the number and scale of assaults”.
Ukrainian forces face a difficult situation in Pokrovsk “in part because of weather conditions that favour the attacks”, he said.
Russia deployed about 150,000 troops to drive towards the city in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, Syrskyi said.
Kyiv’s military said on Tuesday morning that there were believed to be around 300 Russian troops inside the town, which Moscow has been trying to capture for more than a year.
“The situation in Kupyansk is somewhat easier – our forces have achieved results there, and this has been the pattern for the past few weeks,” Mr Zelensky added, referring to the northern city which Moscow on Wednesday claimed to have partial control over.
His comments came after Ukraine’s military struck Russia’s Saratov oil refinery overnight, causing explosions and a large fire in the area around the site in the latest attack on Russian energy facilities.
