New Ukrainian troops are being redeployed to the heavily threatened frontline regions of Pokrovsk and Kurakhove, while Ukraine’s president said he could agree to a ceasefire if NATO agrees to protect areas under Ukrainian control.
The new deployment is a response to the Russian advance in eastern Ukraine, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces Oleksandr Syrskyi announced on Friday. They are tasked with thwarting the enemy’s broader plans, “which go far beyond these frontline sections,” Syrskyi said on Facebook.
Pokrovsk and Kurakhove, on the western edge of the Donbass mining and industrial region, are witnessing the heaviest fighting, the General Staff’s Friday report showed.
Behind it stretches a vast steppe landscape that flows into the Dnipro River. A Russian breakthrough here could pave the way to important cities such as Dnipro and Zaporizhia.
Ukraine has been defending itself against Russia’s large-scale invasion for more than two and a half years.
Zelenskiy proposes phased NATO protection
On the diplomatic front, President Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukraine could agree to a ceasefire with Russia if NATO extends its protection to parts of the country controlled by Ukraine.
“If we want to stop the hot phase of the war, we must bring the territory of Ukraine that we control under the NATO umbrella,” Zelensky said in an interview with British TV channel Sky News on Friday.
‘We have to do it quickly. And then further [occupied] territory of Ukraine, Ukraine can get them back through diplomatic means.”
A NATO invitation would still need to be extended to all of Ukraine within its internationally recognized borders, he said. His country’s constitution does not allow recognition of Russian-occupied territories.
Scholz reiterates its support
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz again assured Zelensky of German solidarity in a telephone conversation on Friday.
“We will continue our military support to Ukraine in close coordination with our European and international partners,” Scholz said in a message from X after the call.
After the phone call, Zelensky thanked Scholz for Germany’s help and support, especially in the field of air defense weapons, in a message on his Telegram channel. He said Scholz informed him of the chancellor’s recent phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Zelensky wrote that peace “can only be achieved through strength.” He had previously criticized the telephone conversation between Scholz and Putin.
Russian Defense Minister in North Korea
Russian Defense Minister Andrei Belousov, meanwhile, confirmed good relations between his country and North Korea during a meeting with his counterpart No Kwang Chol in Pyongyang.
Russian state news agency TASS reported on Friday that Belousov had stated that military cooperation between Moscow and Pyongyang is actively expanding. The two recently signed a strategic partnership agreement.
Pyongyang is said to have not only provided Moscow with artillery ammunition and rockets, but also sent more than 10,000 soldiers to the war zone on Russia’s border with Ukraine.
General: Ukrainian energy in danger
German Major General Christian Freuding, the chief military coordinator of the German Organization for Ukrainian Aid, sees Ukraine’s energy supply increasingly at risk as a result of targeted Russian attacks.
Freuding also made it clear that he does not expect the early winter weather in the combat zones to provide much relief to the country’s defenders.
The consequences of the so-called mud season before the onset of severe frosts had been “not as serious” in the Donbass region as in the past two winters, he said in a Bundeswehr video.
Further deliveries of spare parts and generators are needed, as well as material support for the Ukrainian army. He mentioned the equipment of newly formed units, as well as air defense and anti-aircraft defense.
“The will of the Ukrainian people and the Ukrainian army to win this war remains unbroken. But of course there is exhaustion,” says Freuding.
Soldiers’ bodies exchanged
The bodies of 502 Ukrainian soldiers killed in the fight against the Russian invasion were returned by the Russians on Friday as part of an exchange brokered by the International Red Cross.
According to the Coordination Staff for POW Affairs, most were killed in Ukraine, but 17 were killed in Russia, where Ukraine had advanced into the Kursk border area.
According to Russian media reports, Russia received the bodies of 48 Russian soldiers in return.
