Russian forces are advancing around Pokrovsk in Donetsk, attempting to encircle the city and cut Ukrainian supply lines, raising concerns about Ukraine's defensive stability and potential fall of key territories, with analysts warning of broader risks along the front and the need for strategic countermeasures.
Israeli tanks and infantry have advanced into the outskirts of Gaza City, cutting off a main road and encircling the largest population center in the Gaza Strip. The Israeli military is expanding operations with the addition of more armored vehicles, artillery, and combat engineers, aiming to dismantle Hamas and remove it from Gaza.
Ukrainian forces are pushing to encircle the devastated city of Bakhmut, despite holding only small footholds there, in a move to extend the fight there and tie up Russian forces. The city has become the war's bloodiest battlefield, with both sides suffering heavy losses. Ukrainian officials and military personnel have reported gains on the Russian flanks, while Russia has claimed to have captured the entire city. The fight for Bakhmut has confounded some analysts, who describe it as strategically irrelevant to the broader war.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said that Kyiv will take "corresponding" decisions to protect troops in the eastern city of Bakhmut if they risk being encircled by Russian forces. Bakhmut has been one of the bloodiest and longest battles of Russia's full-scale invasion, now in its second year. Zelenskiy's trip comes with Ukraine expected to launch a counteroffensive to seize back land in the south and east from Russian forces in the coming weeks or months.