Ukraine's Zelenskiy visits embattled frontline towns

Pictures and video on the Ukrainian president's website showed Zelenskiy presenting awards to sergeants in both towns in the Donbas region.
Pokrovsk, site of a major coal mine, is Russia's next target in its drive westward to fully occupy both Donetsk and Luhansk regions, which together make up the Donbas. Moscow's forces have advanced to within some 8 km (5 miles) of the city's outskirts.
Kupiansk lies further north in Kharkiv region, where Russian forces have also been pressing. Ukrainian military reports last week said some Russian soldiers had briefly entered the city.

Russia says it captured village

Russia's Defence Ministry reported its forces had captured the village of Novooleksiivka between Pokrovsk and Kurakhove, another area to the south under Russian attack.

The military blog Rybar said Russian troops had extended their control over the area, particularly in forested areas.

Ukraine's General Staff made no acknowledgement that Novooleksiivka was in Russian hands, but noted it was part of an area where its forces had repelled 27 of 35 Russian attacks.

Zelenskiy's office said he also visited other parts of Donetsk region to check the state of fortifications and discuss preparations for the looming winter with regional officials.

The bulk of infrastructure - for the supply of water, electricity and natural gas - has been destroyed in the region, as cities and towns have come under daily attack.

Vadym Filashkin, the regional governor, said about 324,000 civilians remained in Kyiv-held parts of the region, down from about 2 million before the invasion.

Donetsk region, where Russian proxy forces launched an insurgency in 2014, is one of four Ukrainian provinces that Moscow claimed to have annexed unilaterally in late 2022.

The governor of Zaporizhzhia region further west said at least 10 Russian drones had attacked the region's largest city, also called Zaporizhzhia. Some 10,000 residents were without power.

Earlier, officials in the Black Sea port of Odesa said a Russian missile attack had killed 10 people and wounded 55, three of them seriously.

Russia occupies a fifth of Ukraine and has been advancing at its fastest rate since 2022 in recent months.

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