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Ex-President Donald Trump stated this past Sunday that he is not seriously planning providing Ukraine with advanced Tomahawk cruise missiles. In response to a query by a reporter on his plane, he responded, “No, not currently.” Recent accounts had suggested the U.S. Department of Defense informed the White House that American inventories of Tomahawks were sufficient to allow this transfer.

Ukraine's Defense Actions Continue Without Missile Shortage

While Ukrainian forces has been pursuing Tomahawk missiles to execute long-range strikes against Russian targets, it has still managed to wage a successful operation using its domestically-produced drones and rockets against Russian armed and strategic targets, including oil depots and refineries. This past Sunday, a Kyiv's drone attack hit the port facility on the coast, igniting a fire and harming two vessels, as stated by Moscow officials. Adjacent Russian airports in the area also had to be closed.

Turkey Refineries Shift to Non-Russian Crude Sources

Ankara's largest oil refineries are boosting procurement of non-Russian crude in reaction to the latest international restrictions on Moscow, according to industry insiders. The country is a major purchaser of oil from Russia, together with Beijing and New Delhi, but refiners are mirroring India's example in reducing imports.

STAR Plant Expands Crude Sources

A major Turkish refining plants, the STAR refinery, operated by Azerbaijani firm SOCAR, has lately acquired four cargoes of crude from Iraqi, Kazakh, and other alternative suppliers for year-end arrival, as per sources. This amount to approximately 77,000 to 129,000 barrels per day (bpd) of alternative supply, depending on cargo size. In contrast, oil from Russia made up nearly the entirety of the plant's crude intake in recent months, amounting to about 210,000 bpd, based on trade data. SOCAR declined to comment.

Another Major Refiner Also Boosting Alternative Buys

Another leading Turkish refiner – Tupras – was also raising acquisitions of non-Russian grades of crude, as stated by two insiders. The company was also likely to soon entirely eliminate imports from Russia at a key facility of its primary main domestic refineries to maintain petroleum shipments to Europe without violating the European Union's incoming sanctions. The refiner declined to comment to a request for comment.

Ukrainian Deploys Special Forces to Pokrovsk

Kyiv has deployed elite troops to the heavily contested eastern city of Pokrovsk in an effort to repel an intense Moscow's assault comprising thousands of soldiers, according to Kyiv’s senior commander. Pokrovsk, dubbed “the entrance to Donetsk,” lies on a major logistical line for the Kyiv's military and has been under Russia's sights for more than a year as Moscow aims to control the entire eastern Donetsk region.

Recent Developments in the City

At least two hundred Moscow's troops had breached Pokrovsk’s defensive lines, Ukrainian officials said last week, while analysts concluded that additional forces were advancing on its perimeter in a encircling maneuver. In his evening speech on Sunday, Volodymyr Zelenskyy spoke of the combat in Pokrovsk and “results in the elimination of the occupiers.”

Zelenskyy Reveals Strengthened Air Defence System

The president, who has been pushing his partners for additional air defences to hold off Russia’s attacks, stated on this past Sunday that Ukraine had strengthened its air-defence network with Berlin's support. “We have boosted the Patriot component of our Ukrainian air defense,” he declared, mentioning the advanced U.S.-made defense systems. Without offering further details, the Ukrainian leader singled out Germany and its chancellor, the German chancellor, for thanks.

Russian Attacks Kill Innocents, Disrupt Power

Moscow's unmanned aircraft and missiles targeting Ukrainian territory killed no fewer than six people, including two minors, and cut power to thousands of households, officials said on Sunday. Moscow's military attacked the Dnipropetrovsk and Odesa regions, according to the representatives of the country's prosecutor general. The children were male minors of ages eleven and fourteen, stated the nation's human rights commissioner. Russia’s strikes cut power to the whole east Donetsk area as well as almost 58 thousand homes in the south Zaporizhzhia region, their local leaders said. Ukraine’s Eastern military unit confirmed a number of its personnel were killed in one of the Russian attacks on the region.