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FormerPresident Donald Trump stated on Sunday that he was not actively considering supplying Ukrainian forces with advanced Tomahawk cruise missiles. In response to a query by a reporter aboard his plane, he answered, “No, not at the moment.” Recent accounts had indicated the U.S. Department of Defense informed the White House that American stockpiles of Tomahawks were adequate to enable such a delivery.

Ukrainian Defense Efforts Persist Without Weapon Shortage

While Ukraine has been requesting Tomahawk missiles to execute long-range strikes against Russian targets, it has still managed to wage a successful operation using its domestically-produced unmanned aerial vehicles and rockets against Russian armed and key objectives, including fuel storage facilities and processing plants. This past Sunday, a Ukrainian drone attack struck the port facility on the Black Sea, igniting a blaze and harming two vessels, according to Russian authorities. Adjacent Russian airports in the area also had to be closed.

Turkey Refineries Shift to Non-Russian Crude Sources

Turkey's biggest oil refining facilities are boosting procurement of non-Russian crude in response to the recent international sanctions on Moscow, as reported by market insiders. Turkey is a significant buyer of Russian crude, together with Beijing and India, but refiners are mirroring New Delhi's lead in reducing supplies.

STAR Plant Expands Oil Sources

One of the largest Turkish refining plants, the STAR refinery, owned by Azerbaijani firm SOCAR, has lately acquired multiple shipments of crude from Iraq, Kazakhstan, and additional alternative suppliers for year-end arrival, as per insiders. This amount to approximately tens of thousands of barrels per day (bpd) of non-Russian supply, depending on cargo size. By comparison, Russian crude made up virtually all of the STAR refinery's crude intake in recent months, totaling about 210,000 bpd, based on trade data. SOCAR refused to comment.

Tupras Also Increasing Alternative Buys

The other major Turkish refiner – Tupras – was also raising acquisitions of alternative types of crude, according to multiple insiders. Tupras was furthermore expected to soon completely eliminate Russian crude at one of its primary main domestic refineries to continue fuel exports to Europe without breaching the EU’s incoming sanctions. Tupras did not respond to a request for comment.

Ukrainian Sends Elite Units to Eastern City

Ukraine has deployed special forces to the embattled eastern city of Pokrovsk in an effort to push back an fierce Russian offensive comprising a large number of troops, according to Kyiv’s senior commander. The city, dubbed “the entrance to Donetsk,” lies on a major logistical route for the Ukrainian military and has been under Russia's crosshairs for more than a twelve months as Moscow pushes to control the whole east Donetsk area.

Recent Developments in the City

At least two hundred Moscow's troops had penetrated Pokrovsk’s defensive lines, Ukrainian officials reported recently, while analysts concluded that additional forces were closing in on its perimeter in a pincer-shaped maneuver. In his evening speech on this past Sunday, the Ukrainian president mentioned the fighting in the city and “results in the destruction of the invading forces.”

Zelenskyy Reveals Strengthened Air Defense Network

The president, who has been urging his partners for additional air defense systems to counter Russia’s attacks, announced on this past Sunday that the country had reinforced its air-defence capabilities with Berlin's support. “We have strengthened the U.S.-made Patriot component of our national air defence,” he said, mentioning the advanced American defense systems. Not providing additional details, the Ukrainian leader singled out Berlin and its chancellor, Friedrich Merz, for thanks.

Moscow's Attacks Claim Innocents, Disrupt Electricity

Russian unmanned aircraft and rockets targeting Ukrainian territory took the lives of at least 6 people, among them two minors, and disrupted electricity to tens of thousands of households, officials said on Sunday. Moscow's military struck the Dnipropetrovsk and Odesa regions, according to the office of Ukraine’s prosecutor general. The victims were male minors aged eleven and 14, stated Ukraine’s ombudsman. Russia’s attacks disrupted electricity to the entire east Donetsk area as well as nearly 58 thousand homes in the south Zaporizhzhia region, their local leaders announced. The Vostok military unit said a number of its personnel were killed in one of the Russian strikes on the region.