Ex-President Trump indicated this past Sunday that he is not really contemplating providing Ukraine with advanced Tomahawk cruise missiles. When questioned by a reporter on Air Force One, he responded, “No, not at the moment.” Recent reports had claimed the U.S. Department of Defense told the White House that U.S. stockpiles of Tomahawks were sufficient to allow such a transfer.
Although Ukrainian forces has been seeking Tomahawk missiles to conduct long-range attacks against Russian targets, it has nonetheless succeeded to wage a successful campaign using its domestically-produced unmanned aerial vehicles and missiles against Russian military and strategic targets, such as oil depots and processing plants. This past Sunday, a Kyiv's airstrike targeted the Tuapse oil port on the coast, causing a fire and harming two vessels, as stated by Russian authorities. Adjacent Russian airports in the region also had to be closed.
Ankara's largest oil refineries are increasing procurement of alternative crude in reaction to the recent western sanctions on Russia, according to industry sources. The country is a significant buyer of Russian crude, along with Beijing and New Delhi, but refiners are following India's lead in cutting back supplies.
A major Turkish refining plants, the STAR refinery, operated by Azerbaijani firm SOCAR, has lately acquired four cargoes of crude from Iraq, Kazakh, and other non-Russian producers for December delivery, according to sources. This amount to approximately tens of thousands of barrels daily of non-Russian crude, depending on cargo size. By comparison, oil from Russia accounted for virtually the entirety of the plant's crude intake in October and September, totaling approximately 210 thousand barrels per day, based on trade information. SOCAR refused to comment.
Another leading Turkey's refiner – Tupras refinery – was additionally increasing acquisitions of alternative grades of crude, as stated by two sources. Tupras was furthermore likely to in the near future completely eliminate imports from Russia at a key facility of its two main Turkish plants to maintain petroleum exports to the EU without violating the European Union's upcoming sanctions. Tupras declined to comment to a inquiry for a statement.
Kyiv has deployed special forces to the embattled eastern city of Pokrovsk in an effort to push back an fierce Moscow's offensive involving a large number of troops, as stated by Ukraine's top commander. Pokrovsk, dubbed “the entrance to Donetsk,” is located on a major logistical route for the Kyiv's army and has been in Moscow’s crosshairs for over a twelve months as Moscow aims to seize the entire east Donetsk area.
No fewer than 200 Moscow's troops had penetrated Pokrovsk’s defensive lines, Ukrainian officials said last week, while analysts assessed that additional forces were advancing on its outskirts in a encircling movement. In his nightly address on this past Sunday, Volodymyr Zelenskyy spoke of the fighting in the city and “successes in the destruction of the invading forces.”
Zelenskyy, who has been pushing his partners for more air defense systems to hold off Moscow's strikes, stated on Sunday that Ukraine had strengthened its air-defence capabilities with Berlin's support. “We've strengthened the U.S.-made Patriot element of our Ukrainian air defense,” Zelenskyy declared, referring to the advanced U.S.-made defense systems. Not offering additional information, the Ukraine's president specifically thanked Berlin and its leader, Friedrich Merz, for thanks.
Moscow's unmanned aircraft and missiles fired at Ukrainian territory took the lives of no fewer than 6 people, including two children, and disrupted power to thousands of households, authorities said on this past Sunday. Russian forces struck the Dnipropetrovsk and Odesa areas, said the office of the country's prosecutor general. The children were two boys aged 11 and fourteen, said the nation's ombudsman. Russia’s strikes cut power to the entire eastern Donetsk region as well as nearly 58 thousand households in the south Zaporizhzhia region, their governors said. Ukraine’s Eastern military unit said a number of its members were killed in one of the enemy strikes on Dnipropetrovsk.
