🔗 Share this article Trump Says He Is Not Planning Supplying Tomahawk Cruise Missiles to Kyiv. Ex-President Trump remarked on Sunday that he was not actively considering supplying Ukrainian forces with advanced Tomahawk cruise missiles. After being asked by a reporter aboard his plane, he replied, “No, not at the moment.” Recent reports had claimed the Pentagon told the White House that U.S. inventories of Tomahawks were adequate to enable such a delivery. Ukrainian Military Actions Continue Despite Missile Lack While Ukraine has been pursuing Tomahawk missiles to execute long-range strikes against Russia, it has nonetheless succeeded to conduct a successful campaign using its own drones and rockets against Russian military and strategic objectives, including fuel storage facilities and refineries. This past Sunday, a Ukrainian drone attack struck the port facility on the coast, igniting a fire and harming two vessels, as stated by Russian authorities. Adjacent Russian airports in the region also had to be shut down. Turkey Oil Plants Shift to Non-Russian Crude Supplies Turkey's biggest oil refining facilities are increasing procurement of alternative crude in response to the recent international restrictions on Russia, as reported by industry insiders. The country is a major purchaser of Russian crude, together with Beijing and India, but refiners are following New Delhi's example in cutting back imports. STAR Refinery Expands Crude Procurement One of the largest Turkish refining plants, SOCAR Turkey Aegean Refinery (STAR), operated by Azerbaijani company SOCAR, has recently purchased four shipments of crude from Iraqi, Kazakhstan, and other non-Russian suppliers for year-end delivery, as per insiders. These purchases amount to approximately tens of thousands of barrels per day (bpd) of non-Russian supply, varying by cargo size. In contrast, oil from Russia accounted for nearly the entirety of the STAR refinery's crude intake in recent months, totaling approximately 210,000 barrels per day, according to market information. SOCAR declined to provide a statement. Tupras Likewise Boosting Alternative Buys Another major Turkey's refiner – Tupras refinery – was also raising acquisitions of alternative types of crude, as stated by multiple sources. The company was furthermore expected to soon completely phase out Russian crude at a key facility of its primary major domestic plants to continue petroleum exports to the EU without violating the European Union's upcoming sanctions. Tupras did not respond to a inquiry for a statement. Ukrainian Deploys Elite Units to Pokrovsk Kyiv has deployed elite troops to the heavily contested eastern city of Pokrovsk in an attempt to push back an intense Russian assault comprising a large number of troops, as stated by Kyiv’s senior commander. Pokrovsk, called “the gateway to Donetsk,” is located on a major logistical route for the Ukrainian military and has been in Moscow’s crosshairs for more than a twelve months as Russia aims to control the entire eastern Donetsk region. Recent Updates in Pokrovsk At least two hundred Russian troops had penetrated Pokrovsk’s defensive lines, Ukrainian officials reported last week, while military experts assessed that additional forces were closing in on its outskirts in a pincer-shaped maneuver. In his nightly speech on this past Sunday, the Ukrainian president mentioned the fighting in Pokrovsk and “successes in the destruction of the invading forces.” Ukrainian President Reveals Strengthened Air Defense Network Zelenskyy, who has been pushing his partners for additional air defences to hold off Russia’s attacks, announced on this past Sunday that the country had strengthened its air defense capabilities with Germany’s assistance. “We have strengthened the U.S.-made Patriot element of our Ukrainian air defence,” Zelenskyy said, mentioning the sophisticated American defense systems. Without providing further information, the Ukraine's president specifically thanked Germany and its chancellor, Friedrich Merz, for gratitude. Moscow's Attacks Claim Civilians, Cut Electricity Moscow's unmanned aircraft and rockets fired at Ukrainian territory killed no fewer than 6 individuals, among them two minors, and cut electricity to thousands of residents, officials reported on this past Sunday. Moscow's military struck the Dnipropetrovsk and Odesa areas, said the representatives of the country's chief prosecutor. The victims were two boys of ages 11 and fourteen, said the nation's ombudsman. The strikes cut electricity to the whole east Donetsk region as well as nearly 58,000 homes in the southern Zaporizhzhia region, their local leaders announced. Ukraine’s Vostok army group confirmed a number of its personnel were killed in a particular of the enemy attacks on Dnipropetrovsk.