Moscow and Kyiv painted very different pictures of the battlefield on Sunday, each insisting momentum was on their side as the fighting around Pokrovsk intensified.
Russia said its forces continued to press forward in Pokrovsk, describing gains on the eastern and northwestern edges of the city.
Its daily bulletin sketched out a broad sweep of operations across Sumy, Kharkiv, and several other regions, where Moscow claimed to have struck 143 targets ranging from military-industrial sites to fuel depots and temporary troop positions.
Russian officials also said air defence units had shot down 230 fixed-wing drones in the past day, and that ten Ukrainian breakout attempts near Pokrovsk had been pushed back.
Ukraine said its forces had held their ground. The General Staff reported 271 battles across the frontline and said troops repelled Russian assaults in several directions.
Kyiv added that its air force, missile units, and artillery struck four Russian troop concentrations and two artillery systems.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russia had used roughly 1,400 drones, 1,100 guided bombs, and 66 missiles against Ukraine over the past week.
The confrontation stretched into the Black Sea as well. Russia’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova condemned Ukrainian drone attacks on two Gambian-flagged oil tankers headed for Novorossiysk and on the port itself.
The strikes were carried out on Friday and Saturday, with the port targeted the following day, according to Moscow.
Zakharova said Ukrainian intelligence services had claimed responsibility, and argued that the tankers formed part of civilian energy infrastructure vital to global energy security and not covered by any sanctions.
She said such attacks endangered safe navigation in a key waterway and urged the wider international community to issue a clear condemnation.
The competing statements added another layer to a conflict in which both sides regularly push out sharply different accounts of the same events, each trying to shape how the broader struggle is understood as winter approaches.
Kazakhstan is preparing a new phase of efforts to restore the Northern Aral Sea together with the World Bank, focusing on raising water levels, imp...
Leaders of Iran, Israel, and the United States reiterated their determination to press on with the conflict on Friday (13 March), as the Middle Eas...
Prices are rising sharply in Turkmenistan after the war disrupted imports from neighbouring Iran, a major supplier of fruit, vegetables, constructi...
NATO air defence systems intercepted a third Iranian ballistic missile over Tür...
UN Secretary-General António Guterres has accepted a peace prize awarded to him in Ankara. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan presented...
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) approved an $8.1 billion, four-year Extended Fund Facility programme for Ukraine on Thursday, aimed at preserving macroeconomic and financial stability as the war with Russia continues into its fifth year.
U.S.-mediated talks on the Russia–Ukraine war concluded in Geneva on Thursday, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy describing the outcome as showing “more readiness” for further trilateral diplomacy covering security, economic and political elements of a potential settlement.
U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff said talks between Russia and Ukraine in Geneva had brought “meaningful progress” towards ending the war.
The United States and Iran reported measured progress after a new round of indirect talks in Geneva aimed at resolving the dispute over Tehran’s nuclear programme.
The U.S. should shut down its military bases in the Middle East, Iran's new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei said on Thursday (12 March). His words were read out by a broadcaster on state Iranian television.
Leaders of Iran, Israel, and the United States reiterated their determination to press on with the conflict on Friday (13 March), as the Middle East war approached two weeks, leaving thousands dead and millions affected, tensions in the region escalated further with a deadly attack in Iraq.
“Get ready for oil to be $200 a barrel," a spokesman for the Iranian Army warned the world on Wednesday (11 March), as attacks on ships in the Strait of Hormuz escalated. Meanwhile, 32 countries agreed to the largest ever release of oil reserves in an attempt to reduce prices.
Norwegian police apprehended three brothers suspected of carrying out Sunday's (8 March) bombing at the U.S. embassy in Oslo, in an attack investigators have branded an act of terrorism.
Britain has deployed the Royal Navy destroyer HMS Dragon to the eastern Mediterranean to strengthen protection for its military assets in the Middle East after a drone strike targeted a key UK air base in Cyprus earlier this month.
NATO air defence systems intercepted a third Iranian ballistic missile over Türkiye early on Friday morning. The incident occurred at approximately 03:30 local time over the southern province of Adana.
The European Commission will instruct governments to be flexible in enforcing EU rules on gas imports, diplomats told Reuters on Thursday (12 March), a move likely to benefit imports from Azerbaijan.
Start your day informed with AnewZ Morning Brief. Here are the top news stories for the 13rd of March, covering the latest developments you need to know.
Ayman Ghazali, a 41-year-old U.S. citizen born in Lebanon, crashed his truck into the hallway of a Detroit-area synagogue on Thursday (12 March) while children attended preschool. Security personnel shot him dead during the confrontation, and authorities said no one else was seriously injured.
Balendra Shah is set to become Nepal's prime minister after winning a landslide in the country's 2026 elections. The election comes after a GenZ-led protest in which dozens died in September last year, helped to overthrow the government
You can download the AnewZ application from Play Store and the App Store.
What is your opinion on this topic?
Leave the first comment