Several helicopters participate in the operation to liberate these areas, considered strategically important for Ukrainian defense.
Ukraine launched an operation with special forces to storm the Russian-controlled areas of Pokrovsk in Donetsk, where the Russian Defense Ministry said this Saturday it had eliminated several Ukrainians when they tried to land a helicopter.
Sources in the Ukrainian defense forces told state broadcaster Suspilne that assault aerial vehicles from the Main Intelligence Directorate a few days ago penetrated areas of Pokrovsk that Russian generals had previously declared as “captured”.
Several helicopters participate in the operation to liberate these areas, considered strategically important for Ukrainian defense.
According to Suspilne, the person responsible for these special forces, Kirill Budanov, is on site supervising the operation.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy admitted on Friday that the situation in Pokrovsk is difficult, as the Russians have concentrated “all their forces” in the city, stating that they have accumulated around 170,000 soldiers in the surrounding area.
The Russian Defense Ministry said it had eliminated a group of Ukrainian special forces that attempted to land a helicopter one kilometer from the Pokrovsk fortress, the main battlefield between Moscow and Kiev troops in the Donetsk region.
“The landing of a Ukrainian special operations forces helicopter was prevented approximately one kilometer northwest of the city of Krasnoarmeysk (Pokrovsk, Ukraine), in the Donetsk People’s Republic,” the military statement said.
According to the statement, eleven enemy soldiers were killed during the operation.
The military also reported that it continues to eliminate Ukrainian forces surrounded near the city’s train station.
October was the month in which Russia launched the most missiles against Ukraine since 2023, in night attacks specifically targeting the power grid, according to an analysis by Agence France Presse, calculated using Ukrainian data.
Russian forces launched 270 missiles against the country in October, a 46% increase from September, according to a compilation of data provided daily by the Ukrainian Air Force.
This is the highest number of missiles launched in a single month against Ukraine during night bombing raids since the Ukrainian Air Force began publishing these daily reports in early 2023.
Russian attacks left tens of thousands of people without electricity.
Moscow has attacked the Ukrainian power grid for the fourth winter in a row, as part of a strategy to weaken the Ukrainian civilian population, according to Kiev and its supporters.
