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

Ukraine defence minister Denys Shmyhal joined John Healey, and their counterparts from nine nations for a meeting of the Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF) this morning.

Ukraine joined the coalition for the first time at the meeting in Norway and was given "enhanced partnership" status at the meeting.

Shmyhal says this is the first time a nation that is not a member of the coalition has been granted this status.

JEF is a defensive coalition set up by Britain in 2015 with nine northern European countries.

Russia has been pushing out claims this morning that its troops are advancing in a couple of key parts of the battlefield.

Moscow's defence ministry has now released its daily briefing, making more claims about fighting in Pokrovsk and Kupiansk.

These claims have not been independently verified.

In Pokrovsk (see our 8.43 and 8.51 posts for more), Russia says its troops are advancing northwards.

It also says it stopped multiple Ukrainian attempts to escape being surrounded and it was continuing to "destroy" the surrounded soldiers.

It made similar claims about the state of fighting near Kupiansk as well.

"Near the village of Kupyansk in the Kharkiv region, units of the 6th Army continue to destroy the encircled enemy group," it said on Telegram.

As we've said, Russia has made several claims of progressing on the frontline this morning, but we're yet to hear from Ukraine.

Russia's overnight attacks are a regular feature of the war.

While last night's attacks were smaller than most, with 80 drones and missiles launched, two people were killed in the Dnipropetrovsk region, in southeast Ukraine.

The drone attack took place in the Synelnyk district according to Ukraine's State Emergency Service.

Two men, including a policeman, were said to have been killed and four others were injured.

A shop and a car caught on fire, with other buildings damaged.

We've just brought you news of a Ukrainian attack on Russian oil infrastructure overnight (see our 10.06 post for more).

Kyiv has conducted a campaign of such attacks, and the topic came up yesterday in our weekly Ukraine Q&A with Professor Michael Clarke.

Here's his answer to a question he was asked about whether Ukraine's strategy of hitting Russia's oil was working.

'Pressure Putin to think again'

The attacks, Clarke said, were having a "big effect" and hurting Russia, but they wouldn't win the war alone.

Despite some "great success" Kyiv is having, Clarke said: "The armed forces will still get the fuel they need, you know, to the detriment of other people."

He explained:

"That [Ukraine's campaign] is putting a strain on the economy, which the Russians will feel, along with other strains on the economy... so it's not without purpose that what the Ukrainians are doing, but will it win them the war? No, it won't. It will add to the pressure they're trying to bring on Putin to think again about a ceasefire."

Clarke said that to really make a difference, this energy and industry strike campaign needed to be combined with territorial gains on the ground.

He said he believed that Putin could be forced to the negotiating table if the two were combined.

Watch the full Q&A here...

In recent months, Ukraine has been carrying out a campaign of strikes on Russia's oil refining and petrochemical infrastructure.

It regularly has successfully hit such sites with drones in overnight attacks.

Last night, a Ukrainian drone caused "minor damage" to oil pumping stations in Russia's Yaroslavl region, Mikhail Evrayev, the regional governor, says.

In a post on Telegram, he adds that no injuries have been reported. He says:

"As a result of hostile drone attacks on the energy infrastructure of the Yaroslavl region, minor damage was inflicted on oil refining stations in two districts. According to preliminary reports, there are no casualties. The consequences have currently been contained."

At the time of the attack, he called on people to stay indoors and take shelter.

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.