War in Donbas

Russia's military made its largest territorial gains in more than two years in October, as it pressed farther into Ukraine's eastern Donbas region - but at a heavy cost.

A document has surfaced revealing Russia's initial demands from Ukraine at the outset of the war, reportedly presented by Russia's delegation to Ukraine during negotiations in Belarus in early March 2022.

President Volodymyr Zelensky warned on October 14 that Russia intends to directly involve North Korea in its ongoing war against Ukraine in the coming months. He cited reports from Ukrainian military intelligence that indicated this shift from merely supplying weapons to actually transferring North Korean personnel to the Russian military.

The New York Times (NYT) has analyzed Ukraine's current military strategy in its ongoing war with Russia, concluding that the Ukrainian armed forces are attempting to wear down the Russian army through intense and bloody battles in the Donbas region. The effectiveness of this approach remains uncertain, according to the publication's authors.

A young woman was arrested in Sofia after setting fire to the Russian flag on Thursday afternoon. The incident occurred on Shipka Street, outside the Russian Cultural and Information Center.

Ukrainian civilians were seen fleeing areas near the front line on Wednesday as Russian troops continued to advance in the eastern Donetsk region.

Thousands of Ukrainian troops are taking part in an incursion aiming to destabilize Russia by showing up its weaknesses, a top Ukrainian official has told AFP as the assault entered its sixth day.

Russia carried out an airstrike on a large supermarket in Kostyantynivka, a town in the Donetsk region, located several kilometers from the front lines.

According to Vadim Filashkin, the chairman of the Donetsk regional state administration, the attack resulted in two fatalities and 17 injuries. He described the incident as another act of terrorism by Russia.

An air alert was issued in several regions of eastern Ukraine last night as tensions remained high. In the Pokrovsk region and the Donetsk region, where 33 clashes occurred within 24 hours, the front-line situation continues to be volatile.

A court in Ukraine's Russian-controlled Donetsk region on Friday jailed a member of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) monitoring mission to Ukraine for "espionage" in a judgement condemned by the European security organization.