Russia Troops Reported Inside Pokrovsk As Ukraine Says Forces Hold City's Defenses

Russia’s ground forces have entered the strategic Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk, with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy labeling the situation there as “difficult” with “fierce” battles flaring in and around the regional center.

Zelenskyy, in his October 26 nightly video address, said Russia had concentrated large numbers of forces around Pokrovsk and the nearby Myrnohrad community in the long-fought-over region in eastern Ukraine.

"It is there, near Pokrovsk, that the Russians have concentrated their main strike force -- a significant number of enemy troops," Zelenskyy said.

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"Of course, this creates a difficult situation in Pokrovsk and all nearby areas -- fierce battles in the city and on its outskirts. There are enemy reconnaissance and sabotage groups in the city."

Zelenskyy insisted Ukrainian forces were holding their main defensive lines.

A Long Targeted City

Pokrovsk, a city of about 7,000 inhabitants -- down from more than 60,000 prewar -- holds crucial road and rail junctions and has been under threat of encirclement by Russian forces for most of the year.

In early October, Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed that Russian troops had entered the city, but Ukrainian officials at the time denied the report and said Kremlin forces continued to suffer heavy losses in the region.

On October 26, Ukraine’s General Staff said several small Russian infantry units -- totaling some 200 soldiers -- had evaded defensive lines and were establishing positions inside Pokrovsk.

"Since the beginning of the day, in the Pokrovsk direction, Russian units have tried 28 times to break through the Ukrainian defenses in the areas of [regional] settlements," it said.

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Reports of attacks on could not independently verified.

Russian Officials Say Multiple Regions Hit

Meanwhile, Ukrainian forces hit several targets inside Russia. Authorities in the Belgorod region said 16 people were injured by Ukrainian drones near the border areas.

Early on October 27, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said Russian air-defense units had shot down at least 34 Ukrainian drones flying toward the capital. Details were not immediately available, but two of the city's four airports were temporarily closed.

In Russia's Tula region near the capital, some 24 Ukrainian drones were shot down early on October 27, the regional governor said. Separately, the governor of the Bryansk region said one person was killed and five injured in a drone attack there.

The latest violence comes after a Russian drone strike early on October 26 hit a high-rise building in Kyiv, killing three people and injured at least 33 others, including seven children.

Area residents look over the aftermath of a Russian drone strike on a Kyiv apartment complex on October 26.

Ukrainian officials also reported on October 26 that at least 10 people were injured when a Russian drone struck a minibus near the eastern city of Sumy.

Ukraine continues to endure nearly nightly attacks by Russian drones and missiles that hit apartment buildings and civilian infrastructure in Kyiv and other major cities far from the front line.

Moscow denies targeting civilian sites despite widespread evidence of such attacks. Kyiv has responded by hitting what it says are military-related infrastructure sites inside Russia, sometimes far from the border.

Cease-Fire Efforts Stall

Efforts to bring about a cease-fire in the nearly four-year long war have stalled.

On October 25, US President Donald Trump said he was not going "to be wasting my time” by meeting with Putin if the Kremlin leader is not ready to make a deal to end his war on Ukraine.

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Trump spoke to Putin 10 days ago and said he planned to meet him in Budapest within the next few weeks. However, the US president later canceled the meeting, although he said it could take place at another time.

His comments followed the announcement that the Treasury Departmentwas imposing financial sanctions on two of Russia's largest oil companies, Rosneft and Lukoil.

The measure, announced October 22, were the first major sanctions decision that Trump has made against Russia since taking office in January.

Kirill Dmitriev, a Kremlin-appointed envoy who has played a prominent role in talks with the United States, traveled to Washington for new meetings last week.

In a video he posted to Telegram on October 26, Dmitriev said Moscowwas “committed to constructive dialogue and to clearly communicating Russia's position.”

But, he said, "we're seeing titanic attempts to disrupt any dialogue between Russia and the US, and to spread disinformation,” he said.

In an interview broadcast October 26 with CBS News, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent predicted the new sanctions on Rosneft and Lukoil would be painful for the Russian economy.

"Everything we do is going to bring Putin to the table. It's oil that funds the Russian war machine, and I think we can make a substantial dent in his profits," he said.

Bessent also outright criticized Dmitriev calling him a "Russian propagandist," unusually public criticism by a top Trump administration of a visiting Russian official.

With reporting by RFE/RL's Ukrainian and Russian services, Reuters, and dpa