T wenty-one months after it began, Vladimir Putin’s assault on the small Donbas city of Pokrovsk (pre-war population 60,000) is nearing its end. A bloody surge in late October made the situation in the city and in Myrhnohrad,

The Kremlin is focusing its fire on Pokrovsk, a gateway to the Donetsk region, which Russia’s president, Vladimir V. Putin, has long coveted.

While Russia makes advances on the strategic city of Pokrovsk in eastern Ukraine, Western sanctions on Russian oil have begun to impact how some countries source their energy. And as Ukraine continues to ask its allies for more money and weapons, some are left wondering what’s happening with the frozen Russian assets in held in Belgium.

Did viral videos document that Ukrainian soldiers started to surrender en masse in Pokrovsk, as of? No, that's not true: The clips showed a watermark of a generative AI tool. As of this writing, Ukraine denied

The Russian Defense Ministry said Wednesday that Ukrainian troops should surrender to save themselves in Pokrovsk, a transport and supply hub seen as a gateway to bigger nearby cities.

Russia is betting that its military machine will eventually overwhelm its western neighbor, and that battle is playing out in the southeastern Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk.

Russia is once again weaponizing winter. For over a month, Putin has targeted Ukraine’s energy infrastructure—trying to freeze civilians into submission. But Ukraine isn’t backing down. With powerful drone and missile strikes,