{"id":3494,"date":"2025-10-30T15:37:24","date_gmt":"2025-10-30T15:37:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2025\/10\/30\/as-battle-for-ukraines-pokrovsk-heats-up-putin-touts-nuclear-powered-arms\/"},"modified":"2025-10-30T15:37:24","modified_gmt":"2025-10-30T15:37:24","slug":"as-battle-for-ukraines-pokrovsk-heats-up-putin-touts-nuclear-powered-arms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2025\/10\/30\/as-battle-for-ukraines-pokrovsk-heats-up-putin-touts-nuclear-powered-arms\/","title":{"rendered":"As battle for Ukraine\u2019s Pokrovsk heats up, Putin touts nuclear-powered arms"},"content":{"rendered":"<div aria-live=\"polite\" aria-atomic=\"true\">\n<p>Russian and Ukrainian forces are interlocked in desperate battles for control of Ukraine\u2019s eastern towns of Pokrovsk and Myrnohrad, which Moscow considers a gateway to the remaining unoccupied areas of the Donetsk region.<\/p>\n<p>On Sunday, Valery Gerasimov, Russian chief of staff,\u00a0 told President Vladimir Putin his 2nd and 51st Combined Arms Armies were \u201cadvancing along converging axes\u201d and \u201chave completed the encirclement of the enemy\u201d in Pokrovsk and Myrnohrad.<\/p>\n<section>\n<h2>Recommended Stories <\/h2>\n<p><span>list of 4 items<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span>list 1 of 4<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2025\/10\/28\/ticking-environmental-bomb-water-crisis-worsens-in-russia-annexed-donbas\">\u2018Ticking environmental bomb\u2019: Water crisis worsens in Russia-annexed Donbas<\/a><\/li>\n<li><span>list 2 of 4<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2025\/10\/29\/russia-strikes-childrens-hospital-in-ukraine-as-kyiv-hits-energy-sites\">Russia strikes children\u2019s hospital in Ukraine as Kyiv hits energy sites<\/a><\/li>\n<li><span>list 3 of 4<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/video\/newsfeed\/2025\/10\/30\/residential-building-collapses-after-russian-strike-in-ukraine\">Residential building collapses after Russian strike in Ukraine<\/a><\/li>\n<li><span>list 4 of 4<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2025\/10\/30\/is-trump-launching-a-new-nuclear-arms-race-with-first-us-tests-in-33-years\">Is Trump launching a new nuclear arms race with first US tests in 33 years?<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span>end of list<\/span><\/section>\n<p>He claimed some 5,500 Ukrainian troops were surrounded, including elite airborne and marine units.<\/p>\n<p>Russian military reporters contradicted these claims, with one named \u201cMilitary Informant\u201d telling 621,000 Telegram subscribers, \u201cThere is simply no encirclement\u201d as the two claws of Gerasimov\u2019s attempted pincer movement were still \u201cseveral kilometres\u201d apart.<\/p>\n<p>On Thursday, Oleksandr Syrskii, the Ukrainian commander-in-chief, also denied Gerasimov\u2019s claim.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe statements of Russian propaganda about the alleged \u2018blocking\u2019 of the defence forces of Ukraine in Pokrovsk, as well as in Kupiansk, do not correspond to reality,\u201d Syrskii said.<img decoding=\"async\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/INTERACTIVE-WHO-CONTROLS-WHAT-IN-UKRAINE-1761757601.png?quality=80\" alt=\"INTERACTIVE-WHO CONTROLS WHAT IN UKRAINE-1761757601\" data-interactive=\"true\" fetchpriority=\"low\"><\/p>\n<p>The Russian reporter also thought it \u201cextremely unlikely\u201d that thousands of Ukrainian troops were trapped.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf earlier urban battles were a classic meat grinder \u2018head-to-head\u2019 with battles for each house,\u201d he said, now they are \u201cconducted by small groups of infantry with the support of many drones\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Geolocated footage showed that isolated Russian groups had entered western and central Pokrovsk on October 23, but they did not appear to control areas within the city, rather to stake out positions and await reinforcements.<\/p>\n<p>Ukraine\u2019s General Staff said the situation around Pokrovsk \u201cremains difficult\u201d, and estimated that some 200 Russian troops had infiltrated the town, but said defending units were conducting sabotage operations that prevented Russian units from gaining a permanent foothold.<\/p>\n<p>The front around Pokrovsk also remained dynamic.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/INTERACTIVE-WHO-CONTROLS-WHAT-IN-EASTERN-UKRAINE-copy-1761757594.png?quality=80\" alt=\"INTERACTIVE-WHO CONTROLS WHAT IN EASTERN UKRAINE copy-1761757594\" data-interactive=\"true\" fetchpriority=\"low\"><br \/> Ukrainian military observer Konstantyn Mashovets reported that Kyiv\u2019s troops were able to ambush Russian rear positions in the village of Sukhetsky, northeast of Pokrovsk, demonstrating the porousness of the front line.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c[Russian] small infantry groups in some places began to collide with Ukrainian corresponding groups quite often and suddenly, even before their deployment or when moving to strengthen and replenish their assault groups directly,\u201d said Mashovets.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDue to the abundance of drones in the air, which make the movement of any large concentrations of infantry extremely dangerous, the positions of both sides remain mixed,\u201d said Kremlin-aligned Russian military news outlet Rybar. \u201cThis leads to the absence of a single front line and prevents the determination of the exact boundaries of the control zones.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mashovets estimated that the Russian 2nd Combined Arms Army, which he described as the \u201cmain impact force\u201d, had received reinforcements of between 6,000 and 10,500 troops from other areas of the front ahead of the latest assault, which began in mid-October.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSpecial attention is focused on Pokrovsk and the neighbouring areas. That is where the occupier has concentrated its largest assault forces,\u201d said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in a Monday evening address. \u201cIt is Pokrovsk that is their main objective.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"ukraine-strikes-russian-energy-hubs\">Ukraine strikes Russian energy hubs<\/h2>\n<p>Zelenskyy has often said his objective is to return the war to Russian soil. Ukraine\u2019s long-range drones and cruise missiles were performing that task during the past week.<\/p>\n<p>Ukraine struck the Ryazan oil refinery for the fifth time this year on October 23, setting ablaze a crude oil distillation unit. Russia\u2019s Defence Ministry said 139 Ukrainian drones had been shot down overnight.<\/p>\n<p>Leningrad\u2019s regional governor said \u201cseveral\u201d Ukrainian drones had been shot down without causing damage or casualties on Saturday.<\/p>\n<p>Ukraine struck a fuel and lubricants container in Simferopol on Wednesday, Crimean occupation Governor Sergey Aksyonov said.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"putin-boasts-of-weapons-nobody-else-in-the-world-has\">Putin boasts of weapons \u2018nobody else in the world has\u2019<\/h2>\n<p>Russian officials who have been supportive of US President Donald Trump\u2019s efforts to negotiate a peace directly with Putin changed their tone after Trump cancelled a summit with Putin and imposed sanctions on Russian oil majors Lukoil and Rosneft last week.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe US is our adversary, and its verbose \u2018peacemaker\u2019 is now firmly on the warpath against Russia,\u201d said Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chair of Russia\u2019s National Security Council, saying Trump was now \u201ccompletely aligned with mad Europe\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Over cakes and tea with Russian war veterans on Monday, Putin announced the successful test launch of a new nuclear-powered torpedo with the ability to create radioactive tidal waves targeting coastal regions.<img decoding=\"async\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/INTERACTIVE-WHO-CONTROLS-WHAT-IN-SOUTHERN-UKRAINE-1761757596.png?quality=80\" alt=\"INTERACTIVE-WHO CONTROLS WHAT IN SOUTHERN UKRAINE-1761757596\" data-interactive=\"true\" fetchpriority=\"low\"><\/p>\n<p>The Poseidon reportedly has a range of 10,000km (6,200 miles) and travels at 185km\/h (115mph). As with previous unveilings of Russian weapons, Putin said, \u201cThere\u2019s nothing like it in the world, its rivals are unlikely to appear anytime soon, and there are no existing interception methods\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Duma Defence Committee Chairman Andrey Kartapolov said the Poseidon was\u201ccapable of disabling entire states\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Three days earlier, Putin had announced the successful test of a new nuclear-capable cruise missile, the Burevestnik, which is also nuclear-powered.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is a unique ware which nobody else in the world has,\u201d Putin said.<\/p>\n<p>Russia followed a similar political intimidation tactic in November 2024, when it launched the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2024\/11\/22\/what-do-we-know-about-russias-new-ballistic-missile-oreshnik\">Oreshnik<\/a>, a hypersonic, intermediate-range ballistic, nuclear-capable missile, to hit a Ukrainian factory in Dnipro. On Tuesday, Putin said he would deploy the Oreshnik in Belarus by December.<\/p>\n<p>Russia also tested the Sarmat, a new intercontinental ballistic missile that Putin said is not yet operational, in the Sea of Japan. None of the tests were independently verified, and it was unclear whether any of the new weapons were battle-ready or whether they could be produced at scale.<\/p>\n<p>On October 22, Moscow conducted a routine strategic forces exercise, sending Tupolev-22M3 long-range bombers over the Baltic Sea, framing it as a reaction to Western aggression.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2025\/10\/30\/is-trump-launching-a-new-nuclear-arms-race-with-first-us-tests-in-33-years\">Trump<\/a> said on Monday that Putin should instead focus on ending the war.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t think it\u2019s an appropriate thing for Putin to be saying,\u201d said the US president. \u201cYou ought to get the war ended; the war that should have taken one week is now in \u2026 its fourth year, that\u2019s what you ought to do instead of testing missiles.\u201d<img decoding=\"async\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/INTERACTIVE-Ukraine-Refugees-1761757591.png?quality=80\" alt=\"INTERACTIVE Ukraine Refugees-1761757591\" data-interactive=\"true\" fetchpriority=\"low\"><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Russian and Ukrainian forces are interlocked in desperate battles for control of Ukraine\u2019s eastern towns of Pokrovsk and Myrnohrad, which Moscow considers a gateway to the remaining unoccupied areas of the Donetsk region. On Sunday, Valery Gerasimov, Russian chief of staff,\u00a0 told President Vladimir Putin his 2nd and 51st Combined Arms Armies were \u201cadvancing along &#8230; <a title=\"As battle for Ukraine\u2019s Pokrovsk heats up, Putin touts nuclear-powered arms\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2025\/10\/30\/as-battle-for-ukraines-pokrovsk-heats-up-putin-touts-nuclear-powered-arms\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about As battle for Ukraine\u2019s Pokrovsk heats up, Putin touts nuclear-powered arms\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3495,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3494","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-travel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3494","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3494"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3494\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3495"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3494"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3494"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3494"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}