Published On 10/11/2025
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Last update: 15:13 (Mecca time)
Russia announced on Monday that its forces took control of 3 more towns in eastern and southern Ukraine, at a time when the Kremlin said that Moscow wants to end the conflict with its neighbor “as soon as possible.”
The Russian Ministry of Defense said – in a statement – that its forces took control of the towns of Sladkoye and Novoye in Zaporozhye Province (southeast) and the town of Gnatovka in Donetsk Province (east).
She added that the forces also took control of 244 additional buildings in the city of Pokrovsk, which fell under a tight Russian siege.
The vicinity of Pokrovsk, west of Donetsk, has been witnessing fierce battles for many months, and Russian forces are seeking to cut off supply lines from the city so that they can seize it.
Pokrovsk is only about 25 kilometers from the borders of the neighboring Dnepropetrovsk province, in which the Russians do not have a foothold. It is the last city in the western part of Donetsk province, of which the Russians control more than 55% of its area. It is considered one of the most important goals of their war, as it forms with Luhansk province to the north what is known as the Donbass region.
Russia seeks to control the entire Donbass, and Ukraine still controls about 10% of the approximately 5,000 square kilometers area in western Donetsk.
350 strokes
For its part, Ukrainian authorities said that Russian forces carried out more than 350 strikes on towns in Zaporozhye Province during the past 24 hours.
The Ukrainian military administration in Zaporozhye explained that the Russian side carried out strikes with warplanes, drones, artillery, and rocket launchers, noting that several civilian areas were bombed.
In another field development, TASS quoted the Russian Ministry of Defense as saying that the air defense forces shot down 71 Ukrainian drones last night.
Ukraine and Russia exchange daily strikes with drones and missiles targeting vital facilities such as power plants.
End the conflict
On the political level, Russian presidential spokesman (Kremlin) Dmitry Peskov said today that Moscow wants to end the conflict in Ukraine as soon as possible.
Peskov added that the Kremlin has no information about initiatives put forward by Hungary to resolve the situation regarding Ukraine, stressing Moscow’s openness to a political settlement of the conflict.
The Russian spokesman was commenting on a statement made by US President Donald Trump last Friday during a meeting with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, in which he said that the war between Ukraine and Russia would end in the not-too-distant future.
The Russian spokesman considered that the negotiations regarding Ukraine faltered because the Europeans convinced Kiev of its ability to win by military means, which, according to his expression, cannot be achieved.
Peskov reiterated the Kremlin’s position that the war could end once Russia achieves its goals, with a preference for achieving this through political and diplomatic means.
The US President began moving months ago to stop the war between Ukraine and Russia, but his efforts were not crowned with success.
Patriot Systems
Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he intends to order 25 Patriot systems from Washington, adding that the Europeans could help by lending Ukrainian forces their systems now.
Zelensky had confirmed that his relationship with US President Donald Trump was normal, practical and constructive, and said that there was no truth to reports that their recent meeting was tense or that Trump had thrown aside battlefield maps during the meeting last October.
Zelensky confirmed in statements to the British newspaper The Guardian that he is not afraid of Trump, and that he has a good relationship with him, adding that he is a friend of the United States, so why is he afraid of Trump? As he said.
The Ukrainian president recently sought to persuade his American counterpart to supply Tomahawk missiles to Keef, but Trump did not respond to that.