FormerPresident Donald Trump remarked on Sunday that he was not actively considering sending Ukraine with long-range Tomahawk cruise missiles. In response to a query by a reporter aboard Air Force One, he answered, “No, not at the moment.” Earlier reports had indicated the Pentagon informed the administration that American stockpiles of Tomahawks were ample to allow such a delivery.
Although Ukrainian forces has been pursuing Tomahawk missiles to execute long-range attacks against Russia, it has nonetheless managed to conduct a successful campaign using its own unmanned aerial vehicles and missiles against Moscow's armed and key objectives, such as oil depots and refineries. On Sunday, a Kyiv's drone attack struck the port facility on the Black Sea, causing a blaze and harming two ships, according to Moscow officials. Adjacent airfields in the region also had to be shut down.
Ankara's biggest oil refining facilities are increasing purchases of non-Russian crude in response to the latest international sanctions on Russia, according to industry sources. The country is a major buyer of Russian crude, along with Beijing and India, but refiners are mirroring New Delhi's lead in cutting back supplies.
A major Turkey's refining plants, SOCAR Turkey Aegean Refinery (STAR), owned by Azerbaijani company SOCAR, has recently acquired four shipments of crude from Iraq, Kazakhstan, and other non-Russian producers for December delivery, according to sources. This represent approximately tens of thousands of barrels per day (bpd) of alternative supply, varying by cargo size. By comparison, oil from Russia accounted for virtually the entirety of the plant's supply in October and September, totaling approximately 210 thousand barrels per day, based on market data. SOCAR refused to provide a statement.
The other leading Turkey's refiner – Tupras – was also increasing acquisitions of non-Russian types of crude, according to multiple insiders. The company was also expected to soon completely eliminate Russian crude at a key facility of its primary main domestic plants to maintain fuel shipments to the EU without violating the EU’s upcoming restrictions. The refiner declined to comment to a request for a statement.
Kyiv has sent elite troops to the embattled eastern city of Pokrovsk in an attempt to repel an fierce Russian offensive comprising a large number of soldiers, as stated by Ukraine's senior commander. Pokrovsk, called “the gateway to Donetsk,” lies on a major supply route for the Ukrainian army and has been under Moscow’s crosshairs for over a year as Moscow pushes to control the entire eastern Donetsk area.
At least two hundred Moscow's soldiers had penetrated Pokrovsk’s defences, Ukrainian officials said recently, while analysts assessed that additional forces were advancing on its outskirts in a pincer-shaped maneuver. In his nightly speech on this past Sunday, the Ukrainian president spoke of the combat in Pokrovsk and “successes in the destruction of the occupiers.”
Zelenskyy, who has been urging his partners for additional air defences to counter Moscow's attacks, announced on Sunday that the country had strengthened its air defense network with Berlin's assistance. “We have boosted the Patriot component of our Ukrainian air defense,” he said, referring to the sophisticated American defense systems. Without providing further details, the Ukrainian leader specifically thanked Berlin and its leader, the German chancellor, for gratitude.
Russian unmanned aircraft and missiles fired at Ukrainian territory took the lives of at least 6 people, among them two children, and cut power to tens of thousands of households, officials reported on Sunday. Russian forces struck the Dnipropetrovsk and Odesa regions, said the office of the country's chief prosecutor. The victims were male minors aged eleven and fourteen, stated the nation's human rights commissioner. Russia’s attacks disrupted power to the entire east Donetsk area as well as nearly 58,000 homes in the southern Zaporizhzhia region, their local leaders said. Ukraine’s Vostok military unit said some of its members were killed in one of the Russian strikes on Dnipropetrovsk.
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