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Ex-President Trump stated this past Sunday that he is not actively considering sending Ukrainian forces with advanced Tomahawk cruise missiles. In response to a query by a reporter on Air Force One, he responded, “No, not currently.” Earlier reports had suggested the U.S. Department of Defense informed the administration that U.S. stockpiles of Tomahawks were ample to enable this delivery.

Ukraine's Military Efforts Persist Without Weapon Shortage

While Ukrainian forces has been requesting Tomahawk missiles to carry out long-range attacks against Russia, it has still managed to wage a successful campaign using its own unmanned aerial vehicles and rockets against Russian armed and strategic targets, such as fuel storage facilities and processing plants. This past Sunday, a Ukrainian airstrike targeted the Tuapse oil port on the Black Sea, igniting a blaze and harming two ships, according to Moscow authorities. Adjacent Russian airports in the area also had to be closed.

Turkish Oil Plants Shift to Alternative Crude Sources

Turkey's biggest oil refineries are boosting procurement of alternative crude in response to the recent international sanctions on Moscow, according to market insiders. Turkey is a major purchaser of oil from Russia, together with Beijing and New Delhi, but processing companies are following New Delhi's lead in cutting back supplies.

STAR Plant Expands Crude Sources

A major Turkey's refineries, the STAR refinery, operated by Azeri firm SOCAR, has recently acquired multiple cargoes of crude from Iraq, Kazakh, and additional alternative producers for year-end delivery, as per sources. This amount to approximately tens of thousands of barrels per day (bpd) of non-Russian supply, depending on shipment volume. By comparison, oil from Russia made up nearly all of the plant's crude intake in recent months, amounting to about 210 thousand bpd, according to market information. SOCAR declined to comment.

Tupras Also Increasing Non-Russian Purchases

The other major Turkish refiner – Tupras refinery – was additionally increasing purchases of non-Russian types of crude, as stated by multiple insiders. Tupras was also expected to in the near future entirely eliminate Russian crude at a key facility of its two main Turkish plants to maintain petroleum shipments to Europe without violating the EU’s upcoming sanctions. The refiner declined to comment to a inquiry for comment.

Ukrainian Sends Special Forces to Eastern City

Ukraine has sent elite troops to the heavily contested eastern city of Pokrovsk in an attempt to repel an intense Moscow's assault comprising a large number of troops, according to Ukraine's senior military leader. Pokrovsk, dubbed “the entrance to Donetsk,” lies on a key supply route for the Kyiv's military and has been under Moscow’s crosshairs for more than a year as Moscow aims to control the whole eastern Donetsk area.

Recent Updates in the City

At least two hundred Moscow's troops had penetrated Pokrovsk’s defensive lines, Kyiv said last week, while military experts concluded that additional forces were closing in on its perimeter in a encircling maneuver. In his evening address on Sunday, the Ukrainian president mentioned the fighting in the city and “successes in the elimination of the invading forces.”

Zelenskyy Announces Enhanced Air Defense Network

Zelenskyy, who has been urging his partners for additional air defences to counter Russia’s strikes, announced on Sunday that the country had strengthened its air defense capabilities with Germany’s assistance. “We have boosted the U.S.-made Patriot component of our Ukrainian air defense,” Zelenskyy declared, mentioning the advanced U.S.-made air-defence systems. Not offering further details, the Ukraine's president specifically thanked Germany and its leader, Friedrich Merz, for gratitude.

Moscow's Strikes Claim Innocents, Disrupt Power

Moscow's drones and missiles targeting Ukrainian territory took the lives of no fewer than six people, among them two minors, and cut electricity to thousands of households, officials reported on this past Sunday. Moscow's military struck the Dnipropetrovsk and Odesa regions, said the representatives of Ukraine’s chief prosecutor. The victims were two boys of ages 11 and 14, said Ukraine’s human rights commissioner. Russia’s strikes disrupted electricity to the entire east Donetsk region as well as almost 58,000 households in the southern Zaporizhzhia region, their governors announced. Ukraine’s Eastern military unit confirmed some of its members were killed in a particular of the Russian attacks on Dnipropetrovsk.