Fighting intensifies in Pokrovsk and Toretsk areas- Ukraine’s General Staff
Source: Ukraine’s General Staff
As Russia’s invasion of Ukraine reaches its 908th day, the Ukrainian General Staff reports that the most intense fighting over the past 24 hours occurred in the Pokrovsk and Toretsk areas with a total of 145 combat clashes recorded along the front lines.
On Sunday, Russian forces launched 8 missiles and conducted 79 airstrikes, deploying 106 guided bombs. Additionally, over 4,600 shellings were recorded, including 159 launched from multiple rocket launchers.
Russian airstrikes targeted several regions, including Sumy, Kharkiv, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson. The Ukrainian Air Force, missile troops, and artillery responded with 17 strikes on enemy personnel and equipment concentrations, destroying an artillery system, two air defense systems, three command posts, four radar stations, and two other key targets.
Key battlefront updates include:
- Kharkiv sector: Three battles occurred near Lyptsi and Vovchansk.
- Kupiansk sector: Ukrainian forces repelled 20 attacks near Hlushkivka, Stelmakhivka, Kolesnykivka, Lozova, and Synkivka.
- Lyman sector: 20 combat engagements took place near Hrekivka, Makiivka, Nevske, Terny, Novosadove, and Torske.
- Siversk sector: Two clashes near Verkhnokamianske and Ivano-Darivka were repelled by Ukrainian defenders.
- Kramatorsk sector: 14 battles occurred in areas near Hryhorivka, Kalynivka, Chasiv Yar, Klishchiivka, Stupochky, and Predtechyne.
- Toretsk sector: Russian forces launched 24 attacks near Zalizne, Toretsk, Diliivka, and Nelipivka.
- Pokrovsk sector: Ukrainian defenders repelled 45 assaults, with the heaviest fighting near Vozdvyzhenka and Novohrodivka.
- Kurakhove sector: Nine enemy attacks were stopped near Paraskoviivka, Krasnohorivka, and Kostyantynivka.
- Vremivka sector: Four assaults were repelled, as Russian troops push towards Vodyane and Rozdolne.
- Prydniprovske, Huliaipole, and Orikhiv sectors: The situation remains stable with no significant changes.
Ukrainian forces continue to inflict significant losses on the enemy. On August 18alone, Russian forces lost 1,120 personnel, five tanks, 15 armored vehicles, 48 artillery systems, four multiple rocket launchers, two air defense systems, 57 operational-tactical UAVs, five cruise missiles, 55 vehicles, and 17 units of special equipment.
In 2025, the deadliest year yet for civilians, Ukraine’s three largest charitable foundations raised a record 105.9 billion hryvnias. It is more than the years 2022–2024 combined. According to the UN, humanitarian aid in Ukraine was delivered by more than 450 organisations, reaching five million people over the course of the year. Civic foundations hold licences to purchase lethal weapons, which is a function states have monopolised for centuries. These record sums were underwritten by international government grants, which means foreign states now channel billions directly through Ukrainian civic funds, bypassing inter-state channels. It is hard to imagine a stronger institutional trust in civil society.
During the GLOBSEC Defence Forum 2026 in Prague, representatives of “Steel Front”, an initiative by Rinat Akhmetov, discussed with NATO delegations, military officials, and representatives of the European defense industry the lessons learned from Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine.
After the start of the full-scale invasion in February 2022, Ukraine witnessed an unprecedented wave of private support for the army. Citizens, big businesses, charitable foundations, and international philanthropists began financing the country’s defense alongside state assistance provided by international partners. Estimates of total private contributions range from tens to hundreds of billions of hryvnias. However, determining the exact amount remains difficult. In many cases, companies combine military aid, humanitarian programs, tax payments, social spending, and employee support in their reporting.
Rinat Akhmetov’s military initiative, “Steel Front”, has delivered a batch of drones worth UAH 214 million to the 1st “Azov” Corps of the National Guard of Ukraine. This shipment is part of the Metinvest Group’s ongoing support for the unit in 2025.
On October 6, the Administrative Cassation Court within the Supreme Court of Ukraine continued hearing case No. 990/80/25, in which the fifth President and leader of the party “European Solidarity”, Petro Poroshenko, seeks to have Presidential Decree No. 81/2025 from February 12, 2025 — enacting sanctions by the decision of the National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) — declared illegal and annulled. The plaintiff claims the document was falsified and that the sanctions are a tool of political persecution of the opposition, contrary to international norms. Government representatives deny the allegations and insist their actions were lawful. Journalists of Bukvy were present at the hearing.