Ukraine war latest: Surrounded troops should surrender, says Russia - as experts warn key city 'critical'

There are scheduled power outages taking place across Ukraine today.

Ukrenergo, a Ukrainian state-owned energy company, says this is because of more Russian strikes on energy infrastructure.

It also asks people to avoid using "multiple high-power electrical appliances simultaneously until 22:00".

"Due to enemy strikes on energy infrastructure, new power outages have occurred this morning in several regions, including Sumy," it says.

Emergency repairs are said to be under way, where possible.

This is a common situation across Ukraine in the winter, when Moscow regularly hits energy infrastructure, causing such blackouts.

This winter, there have been concerns that it will hit the civilian population harder.

Ukraine's 24th Mechanised Brigade is part of the fighting near the frontline town of Chasiv Yar, in the Donetsk region.

The following photos, released late yesterday, were taken at the end of last month and show what life is like on the frontline for the troops battling Russia's invasion.

"The situation remains critical."

That's what DeepState, a Ukrainian project that maps the front line based on verified open source images, says about the situation in Pokrovsk (see our previous post for more).

In an update, DeepState has said Russian forces were digging into some districts in Pokrovsk, building up their positions.

It also said it was no longer possible to contain Russian troops in the south of the town and at least one nearby settlement was also probably lost.

For context: Capturing Pokrovsk could give Moscow a platform to drive towards Kramatorsk and Sloviansk, the two biggest remaining Ukrainian-controlled cities in the Donetsk region, which Russia wants to capture in its entirety. 

Russian military blogger Rybar said yesterday that Moscow's control of Pokrovsk was gradually expanding, but "a complete clearing of the city is still far off".

The Russian Defence Ministry claims to have surrounded Ukrainian troops in Pokrovsk and Kupiansk and says they should surrender to save themselves.

In a statement, it says:

"Today, the situation of the Ukrainian Armed Forces groups, trapped in the 'cauldrons' of Kupiansk and Krasnoarmeysk [Pokrovsk] and continuously suffering significant losses from attacks and the advance of Russian troops, is rapidly deteriorating, leaving no chance for Ukrainian servicemen to save themselves other than voluntary surrender."

This has not been independently verified. 

Moscow often makes claims about frontline gains that Kyiv disputes.

Russia has been using a pincer movement against forces in both Pokrovsk and Kupiansk, while smaller units and drones attack and disrupt logistics and supply lines.

These tactics created what Russian military bloggers call a grey zone where neither side has full control, but Ukraine struggles to properly defend.

Battlefield maps below show Russian forces a few kilometres away from encircling Pokrovsk and in control of a large part of Kupiansk - see the second map for those cities.

Welcome back to our live coverage of the war in Ukraine.

Yesterday, Volodymyr Zelenskyy continued his diplomatic push to secure more support and backing for Ukraine from its allies.

Addressing the European Parliament virtually from near the frontline, he said the US needed to be more open to supplying Ukraine with long-range weapons.

His comments came as the EU praised Ukraine's "advances" towards possibly joining the bloc.

But despite developments off the battlefield, on the frontline, Ukraine is fighting to hold on to the strategically important city of Pokrovsk.

The transport and logistics hub, if taken, could provide Russia with the foundation to push onwards towards other cities.

In recent days, there have been claims and counterclaims from Kyiv and Moscow over victories on the ground.

Energy attacks

Elsewhere, in recent weeks, Ukraine has been targeting Russia's oil refinery capabilities and vital infrastructures supporting its war effort. We saw this continue overnight.

At the same time, Russia has been hitting Ukraine's energy infrastructure, repeatedly plunging parts of the country into darkness.

Stick with us for all the latest updates throughout the day.

We're ending our live updates of the Ukraine war for the day.

Before we go, here's a round-up of the top lines we brought you today:

• Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Washington needs to be open to supplying Ukraine with long-range weapons;
• Ukraine's president also hailed what he described as the "best assessment to date" on chances of Ukraine joining the EU;
• It comes after the EU said the bloc's expansion is "realistic" and it praised Ukraine's "advances";
• Meanwhile, Ukrainian intelligence said its special forces continue "fierce battles" with Russian soldiers in the city of Pokrovsk;
• Russian authorities said Ukrainian drones damaged the Sterlitamak petrochemical plant deep inside the country, almost 1,000 miles from the Ukrainian border.

Our international correspondent John Sparks has been in Ukraine to see how troops run an operation from an underground cellar to intercept as many Russian drones as they can.

You can watch his report at the top of the page, or read more below.

Our military analyst Michael Clarke also answered our questions on the war in his weekly Q&A.

Among the topics Clarke covered today were:

• The Russian campaign for the city of Pokrovsk - and what chance Ukraine has of holding the enemy off;
• Why China is benefitting from the war;
• How Ukraine could combine energy war and battlefield gains to force Putin to negotiate; and
• Donald Trump's flipflopping on Tomahawk missiles - and why he is convinced he isn't making a mistake.

Watch the full Q&A...

We brought you news earlier of Ukraine's efforts to join the EU, and the bloc's enlargement commission's response (see our 12.36 and 12.42 posts).

But Ukraine wasn't the only country that Marta Kos, the EU's enlargement commissioner, mentioned when speaking in front of the EU's parliament.

She highlighted other nations that were progressing as well, and some that weren't doing as well.

Montenegro was "most advanced" in its efforts, Kos said and the best prepared country.

Albania, the EU parliament heard, had made "unprecedented progress" since October last year, while Moldova has been working well to deepen ties with the EU despite "continued hybrid threats to destabilise the country and the EU course".

Russia has been accused of trying to interfere in its most recent election.

However, not all countries were progressing as well. Kos highlighted some nations that were failing to meet their targets.

"In Serbia, authorities continue to declare EU membership as their strategic goal, but the actual pace of implementation of reforms has slowed down significantly," she said.

Kos acknowledged some "recent positive developments" but said it must avoid "anti-EU rhetoric" and avoid "backsliding" on freedom of expression in academia.

Macedonia, Kos said, had not taken "decisive steps" to advance negotiations with the EU, including amending its constitution.

In Kosovo, domestic politics led to its EU path being "stalled", she said, while negotiations with Turkey hadn't moved "since 2018".

However, the worst situation was in Georgia, where efforts had "sharply deteriorated with serious democratic backsliding".

So much so, Kos said it was now considered an EU candidate in "name only".

In Dobropillia, a body has been found under the rubble after a Russian airstrike.

It's the area where Volodymyr Zelenskyy is visiting soldiers today - and also where he addressed the EU Parliament from.

NATO jets were scrambled overnight in Romania after drone activity near the shared border with Ukraine.

Germany at NATO said that the jets had been scrambled - weeks after a series of Russian violations of NATO airspace.

This time, Berlin's mission said: "No airspace violation occurred - but our crews, as always, were ready to protect!"

A Ukrainian man accused of the 2022 sabotage of the Nord Stream gas pipeline has begun a hunger strike, according to his lawyer.

Last month, a judge ordered that the suspect, identified only as Serhii K under German privacy laws, should be transferred to a German prison.

He is currently still in a high-security Italian prison, where he has been refusing to eat.

"Since October 31, SK has been refusing food to demand respect for his fundamental rights," his lawyer Nicola Canestrini said in a statement.

She added he was demanding "equal treatment" with other inmates.

Serhii K was arrested in August near the Italian town of Rimini in connection with the sabotage - which he denies.

The explosions largely severed Russian gas supplies to Europe, prompting a major escalation in the Ukraine conflict and squeezing energy supplies on the continent. 

No one has taken responsibility for the blasts and Ukraine has denied any role.