Ukraine advances in occupied Donetsk as Trump hands Putin diesel deal

The United States’s narration with Ukraine came nether bonzer strain during the past week, arsenic US President Donald Trump lifted immoderate lipid sanctions against Russia and was feared to person restricted Ukraine’s entree to US quality and outer services, hobbling its defences.

“It is simply a pity we are losing … a beardown partner,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told writer Piers Morgan, speaking of the US.

“It’s achy erstwhile President Trump chooses 1 side, not our side,” helium said. “This is not [the] close broadside of history.”

Trump on October 9 invited Russia to merchantability 1.8 cardinal tonnes of diesel to the planetary marketplace by the extremity of the year, to assistance bring down transport prices.

That efficaciously reversed the Lindsey Graham Act, which Trump had signed into instrumentality days earlier. The instrumentality gave him the quality to punish countries buying Russian lipid with secondary sanctions.

Ukraine’s partners did not stock quality that 5 ballistic missiles were headed towards Kyiv connected October 13, Zelenskyy said, without naming the US. Those missiles struck Kyiv’s Thermal Power Plant fig 4, 1 of the capital’s biggest, resulting successful powerfulness outages.

Russia past pounded Ukraine’s energy infrastructure connected October 14, erstwhile Ukraine reported it had restricted usage of SpaceX’s outer navigation services, which it uses to support itself.

Over a 24-hour period, Russia launched 850 drones and 39 missiles, striking 30 vigor targets crossed 19 regions of Ukraine, contempt the information that Trump had declared an vigor ceasefire connected October 11.

“This level of blatant disregard for the United States by Russia has not been seen before,” Zelenskyy said.

Starshield, the subject constituent of the Starlink outer web owned by SpaceX, capped Ukraine’s usage of its navigation services astatine 160 km/h (100mph).

A girl of a killed woman, recovered nether debris, reacts astatine a tract of an flat gathering damaged during a Russian pitchy drone strike, amid Russia’s onslaught connected Ukraine, successful Kharkiv, Ukraine, October 13, 2026 [Sofiia Gatilova/Reuters]

This meant that Ukraine mislaid show of its interceptors supra that speed, making it hard oregon intolerable to halt Russian jet-powered Geran-4 drones, which alert astatine speeds exceeding 500 km/h (310mph).

Six successful 10 Russian drones are present jet-powered, Zelenskyy said.

“Starshield systems are owned and controlled by the US government. Any limits connected velocity oregon usage are decided by the US subject and yet POTUS,” wrote SpaceX proprietor Elon Musk.

Starshield services had begun to instrumentality to mean connected October 15, sources astatine Ukraine’s Ministry of Defence said.

Ukraine is truthful heavy targeted by Russian aerial strikes that an outage successful its quality to navigate interceptors for a prolonged play could beryllium ruinous.

During September, its aerial unit intercepted much than 4,700 drones and missiles of assorted kinds.

Starshield is arsenic important for Ukraine’s quality to hobble Russian violative operations. Ukraine has wrought havoc with Russian proviso lines for months, striking substance trucks, bridges, ammunition warehouses and aerial defences.

During September alone, Ukraine’s subject said it had struck 40 bid posts and 50 logistics facilities.

The Unmanned Systems Forces of Ukraine’s information showed that strikes fell from a regular mean of 2,300 to 1,678 connected October 14 and 1,053 connected October 15.

This was not the archetypal specified disruption of services nether the Trump administration.

The US had besides stopped sharing quality with Ukraine successful March, helping Russia reclaim its Kursk region, which Ukraine had counter-invaded.

Ukraine advances

Despite the setbacks this week, Ukraine has continued to triumph backmost territory.

Its Third Army Corps concluded a 4th signifier of Operation Vivaldi successful Ukraine’s eastbound Donetsk region, reclaiming an further 100sq km of territory (40sq miles), said Corps commandant Andrii Biletskyi.

That brought the operation’s gains to 275sq km (100sq miles) and 16 settlements since August, and brought Russia’s wide gains this twelvemonth adjacent to nil.

The run was designed to propulsion backmost against a Russian effort to prehend the municipality of Lyman. A abstracted counteroffensive further southbound pushed backmost against an attempted Russian takeover of Dobropillya. Ukraine saw the 2 initiatives arsenic an effort to situation the “fortress cities” of Sloviansk and Kramatorsk successful a pincer movement.

Ukraine’s counteroffensives person drawn distant Russian units straight facing Sloviansk and Kramatorsk, paralysing this portion of the front.

“Russian forces averaged astir 14 attacks per time successful the Sloviansk absorption successful August 2026, 5 successful September 2026, and 3 per time frankincense acold successful October 2026,” wrote the Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based deliberation tank.

“Russian forces averaged astir 3 attacks per time successful the Kramatorsk absorption successful August 2026, 1 successful September 2026, and lone an mean of 0.3 frankincense acold successful October 2026,” the ISW said.

“We are stopping each force attempts to beforehand oregon infiltrate,” said Zelenskyy. “Ukraine’s positions connected the beforehand stay strong, and this twelvemonth they are the strongest they person been successful a agelong time.”

Zelenskyy said Russian forces outnumber Ukraine’s by six to 8 times successful parts of the front, and it appeared that they person precocious received reinforcements.

Robert Brovdi, the commandant of the Unmanned Systems Forces of Ukraine, said the unit summation “translates into a important increase” successful Russian casualties.

During the archetypal 2 weeks of October, Brovdi said, Russian casualties accrued by 25 percent compared with the archetypal 2 weeks successful September and by astir 60 percent compared with the archetypal 2 weeks successful August.

In Dobropyllia, the Russian casualties were higher than anyplace other connected the front, helium said, 43 percent supra September’s complaint and treble the complaint successful August.

Ukraine’s occurrence is owed successful portion to its accumulation of domestically designed drones successful concern with European allies.

Ukraine’s Defence Ministry’s orders successful 2026 were higher by fractional than successful 2025, it said, and transportation volumes were astir 4 times what they had been past year.

While Ukraine respected Trump’s vigor ceasefire for 3 days, it returned to striking Russian refineries connected October 15.

It besides continued to onslaught non-energy targets passim the week.

Ukraine struck a installation manufacturing explosives and rocket substance successful Nizhny Novgorod connected October 9, and a works making additives for rocket fuels successful the Tver region.

On October 15, it destroyed 4 Sukhoi fighters and damaged different 2 astatine the Borisoglebsk airfield successful the Voronezh region.

Ukraine besides targeted 3 information centres owned by the Russian unreality services institution Yandex, destroying oregon crippling those successful Sasovo, Kaluga and Vladimir betwixt October 8 and 11. It besides struck a information centre owned by Sberbank connected October 14.

The strikes caused Russians to suffer online outgo and different services.