Ukraine-Russia conflict newest: Nato says Putin needs to ‘wipe Ukraine off map’ as Russia targets its power grid

Russia launched a large-scale attack on Ukraine’s energy facilities this morning, the war-hit country’s minister of energy German Galushchenko said.

The entire country was under an air alert after the Ukrainian Air Force issued warnings about Russia launching missiles in the attack.

Military bloggers in Russia claim Putin’s forces are just 1.5km (1 mile) outside the Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk after pushing up from the south.

The battles near the road and rail hub in eastern Ukraine have been “extremely fierce” according to Ukraine’s own admission.

But why does the Ukrainian city’s control matter to Kyiv?

The fall of Pokrovsk, an important logistics centre for the Ukrainian military, would be one of Ukraine’s biggest military defeats in months.

Control of the city, which the Russian media call “the gateway to Donetsk”, would allow Moscow to severely disrupt Ukrainian supply lines along the eastern front and boost its campaign to capture the city of Chasiv Yar, which sits on higher ground offering potential control of a wider area.

Squeezing the Ukrainian military’s access to the road network in the vicinity would make it harder for Kyiv’s troops to hold pockets of territory either side of Pokrovsk, which could allow Russia to consolidate and advance the frontline.

The city also hosts a mine which is Ukraine’s only domestic coking coal supplier for its once-giant steel industry.

Ukrainian steelmaker Metinvest BV has halted some operations at the mine because of its proximity to advancing Russian troops, an industry source said yesterday.

Russian state-owned oil firm Rosneft has signed a deal worth $13bn (£10bn) a year selling oil to Indian refiner Reliance in a blow to sanctions against Vladimir Putin’s government.

Russian forces are reportedly just 1.5km (1 mile) outside the Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk, a road and rail hub in eastern Ukraine.

The latest Russian movements were reported by Yuri Podolyaka, a prominent Ukraine-born but pro-Russian war blogger.

He claimed Russian forces were now just 1.5km from the city, which had a pre-war population of 60,000, after a push from the south.

Russia controls a chunk of Ukraine about the size of the American state of Virginia and is advancing at the fastest pace since the early days of the 2022 invasion, according to open source maps.

Ukraine’s military said that Russian troops destroyed or captured several Ukrainian positions near the city in recent days.

A man falls to his death from the window of a burning apartment after a Russian air strike. Two girls in pink tutus join a ballet class in a bomb shelter.

The grisly evidence of war is everywhere in Ukraine, where, for a third year, soldiers and civilians are enduring the Russian army’s onslaught.

AP photographers have travelled across the country, capturing the agony and the life-affirming joy witnessed in the conflict.

Donald Trump has criticised Ukraine’s use of US-supplied missiles for attacks deep into Russian territory in a Time magazine interview published yesterday.

“It’s crazy what’s taking place. It’s crazy. I disagree very vehemently with sending missiles hundreds of miles into Russia. Why are we doing that? We’re just escalating this war and making it worse. That should not have been allowed to be done,” Mr Trump said in an interview to mark his being named Time’s Person of the Year.

Mr Trump has said he would like to bring a quick end to the nearly three-year-old war but has been cagey on the details. He told Time he had a “very good plan” to help but that if he reveals it now “it becomes almost a worthless plan.”

Pressed on whether he would abandon Ukraine, Mr Trump said: “I want to reach an agreement, and the only way you’re going to reach an agreement is not to abandon.” He said the entry of North Korean troops into the picture was a “very complicating factor.”

President Joe Biden last month lifted the US ban on Ukraine using US-supplied longer-range missiles for strikes deep inside Russia, his latest attempt to boost Kyiv in its battle to repel a Russian invasion force from his country.

Nato secretary General Mark Rutte warned that Vladimir Putin wants to “wipe Ukraine off the map” and could come after other parts of Europe next.

“It is time to shift to a wartime mindset,” Mr Rutte told security experts and analysts at the Carnegie Europe think-tank in Brussels.

He said people should guard themselves against the prospect that Russia might try to use “swarms of drones” in Europe as it has a deadly effect in Ukraine.

The Russian president “is trying to crush our freedom and way of life,” Mr Rutte said. The former Dutch prime minister listed Russia’s attacks on Georgia in 2008, the annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula in 2014, and the all-out invasion launched almost three years ago.

“How many more wake-up calls do we need? We should be profoundly concerned. I know I am,” he said. “Russia is preparing for long-term confrontation. With Ukraine, and with us.”

The Nato official has also urged Europeans to press their governments to ramp up defence spending.