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FormerPresident Donald Trump indicated this past Sunday that he is not actively contemplating providing Ukraine with long-range Tomahawk missiles. In response to a query by a journalist on his plane, he responded, “No, not at the moment.” Recent reports had indicated the Pentagon told the White House that American stockpiles of Tomahawks were sufficient to allow this delivery.

Ukrainian Defense Efforts Continue Without Weapon Shortage

Although Ukraine has been seeking Tomahawk missiles to carry out long-range attacks against Russian targets, it has still succeeded to conduct a effective campaign using its own drones and rockets against Russian military and key objectives, including fuel storage facilities and processing plants. On Sunday, a Kyiv's drone attack hit the port facility on the Black Sea, igniting a blaze and damaging two vessels, as stated by Moscow officials. Adjacent Russian airports in the region also had to be shut down.

Turkish Refineries Shift to Alternative Crude Supplies

Ankara's biggest oil refineries are increasing purchases of alternative crude in response to the latest western sanctions on Moscow, as reported by market insiders. The country is a significant purchaser of Russian crude, together with Beijing and India, but processing companies are mirroring India's example in reducing supplies.

SOCAR Turkey Refinery Diversifies Crude Procurement

A major Turkey's refining plants, SOCAR Turkey Aegean Refinery (STAR), operated by Azeri firm SOCAR, has lately purchased four cargoes of crude from Iraq, Kazakhstan, and additional non-Russian producers for year-end arrival, according to insiders. These purchases amount to roughly 77,000 to 129,000 barrels daily of non-Russian crude, depending on cargo size. By comparison, Russian crude accounted for nearly all of the STAR refinery's crude intake in recent months, totaling about 210,000 bpd, based on trade data. SOCAR refused to comment.

Tupras Also Boosting Alternative Buys

The other major Turkey's refiner – Tupras refinery – was additionally raising acquisitions of non-Russian types of crude, as stated by multiple insiders. The company was furthermore expected to soon completely eliminate imports from Russia at a key facility of its two main Turkish refineries to continue petroleum exports to Europe without breaching the European Union's incoming sanctions. Tupras did not respond to a request for comment.

Ukraine Sends Special Forces to Eastern City

Kyiv has sent elite troops to the heavily contested east city of Pokrovsk in an attempt to repel an intense Moscow's offensive involving a large number of troops, according to Kyiv’s top military leader. The city, dubbed “the gateway to Donetsk,” lies on a key logistical line for the Ukrainian military and has been under Russia's crosshairs for over a year as Russia pushes to seize the entire eastern Donetsk region.

Latest Developments in Pokrovsk

At least two hundred Russian troops had breached the city's defences, Ukrainian officials reported recently, while military experts concluded that additional forces were closing in on its outskirts in a encircling movement. In his evening speech on this past Sunday, Volodymyr Zelenskyy spoke of the fighting in Pokrovsk and “results in the elimination of the invading forces.”

Ukrainian President Announces Enhanced Air Defense System

Zelenskyy, who has been pushing his partners for additional air defences to hold off Russia’s strikes, stated on Sunday that Ukraine had reinforced its air defense network with Berlin's support. “We've boosted the Patriot element of our Ukrainian air defense,” he said, referring to the sophisticated U.S.-made defense systems. Without offering further details, the Ukraine's president singled out Germany and its chancellor, the German chancellor, for gratitude.

Russian Strikes Claim Civilians, Cut Power

Moscow's drones and rockets fired at Ukraine took the lives of no fewer than six people, among them two children, and disrupted electricity to tens of thousands of residents, officials said on this past Sunday. Moscow's military struck the Dnipropetrovsk and Odesa regions, said the representatives of Ukraine’s chief prosecutor. The children were two boys aged eleven and fourteen, stated the nation's ombudsman. The strikes disrupted power to the entire eastern Donetsk region as well as nearly 58,000 homes in the southern Zaporizhzhia region, their local leaders said. The Vostok military unit said some of its personnel were killed in a particular of the Russian attacks on the region.