Ukraine's military is attempting to hold back a steady Russian advance in the country's east. (Reuters)
In short:
Russian forces are attempting to cut off Ukrainian supply lines to a strategic city.
Ukraine's troops have been under heavy strain in recent months, with Russia making steady territorial gains.
What's next?
Ukraine says it wants to swap two North Korean troops captured on its frontline with Ukrainian prisoners-of-war.
Russia's military is threatening to capture key supply lines replenishing Ukrainian forces in the country's eastern front, in the latest sign Vladimir Putin's armies are advancing.
Russian troops are going around the vital logistics hub of Pokrovsk, the Associated Press has reported.
The move threatens to undermine Ukraine's defences, which have been holding back Russian forces.
Major Viktor Trehubov, a local Ukrainian army spokesperson, said Russian forces were taking aim at a highway that runs to the central Ukraine city of Dnipro.
That route is crucial for supplies feeding Ukrainian forces in the entire region.
Cutting the highway traffic would also severely weaken Pokrovsk.
Ukraine's military is trying to hold out in the logistics hub of Pokrovsk. (Reuters/Ukrainian Armed Services)
Ukraine’s army is under severe strain along parts of the approximately 1,000-kilometre front line, especially in the eastern Donetsk region where Pokrovsk is located.
In his daily video address to the nation late on Sunday, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said fighting around Pokrovsk was "the most intense" in recent days.
Ukraine's forces have been under significant strain in recent months, depleted after almost three years of war since Russia began its full-scale invasion of the country in February 2022.
Ukraine's military is holding a small part of Russia's Kursk region after launching a counteroffensive last year. (Reuters)
It also comes ahead of US president-elect Donald Trump’s arrival in the White House next week.
Prior to his election, Trump promised he would end the conflict in 24 hours.
However, last week his peace envoy to the region, General Keith Kellogg said Trump would like to see the conflict ended within 100 days of taking office.
Russia silent on North Korean troops
Meanwhile, the Kremlin has declined to comment on claims that Ukrainian forces had captured North Korean soldiers fighting in Ukraine.
Mr Zelenskyy said Ukraine was willing to exchange two captured North Korean soldiers for Ukrainian prisoners-of-war.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, and North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un have forged closer ties. (AP: Alexander Zemlianichenko)
Russia's government has not denied or confirmed reports that thousands of North Korean soldiers have been sent to its border Kursk region to help Moscow fight off a Ukrainian incursion.
Ukrainian and Western intelligence agencies say there could be at least 10,000 North Korean troops fighting on front lines.
Russia and North Korea signed a mutual defence treaty last year.
On Monday, South Korean politician Lee Seong-kweun said around 300 North Korean troops had been killed and some 2,700 wounded while fighting Ukraine.
Russia claims Ukraine targeting gas supply
On Monday, the Russian defence ministry said Ukraine had fired nine attack drones on Saturday at a gas compressor station in the village of Gai-Kodzor, near Russia's southern coast on the Black Sea.
"All the drones were shot down," the defence ministry said in a statement published on its Telegram channel on Monday.
Russian army suffers heavy losses in Kursk
Photo shows Soldiers in combat training.
"As a result of falling fragments of one drone, a building and equipment of a gas measuring station suffered minor damage," it said.
The defence ministry added that there was no disruption to supply and the facility was working as normal.
The allegation — which Kyiv has not commented on — comes amid an escalating energy row between the two countries.
On January 1, Ukraine ended a transit agreement that allowed Russian gas to flow through Ukraine to Europe.
The US and UK last week announced fresh sanctions against Russia's energy sector, including Russia's "shadow fleet" of oil tankers.
AP/AFP
