Could Ukraine hold a presidential election right now? Will Europe use frozen Russian assets to fund war? How can Ukraine rebuild China ties? 'Ukraine is running out of men, money and time' Russian mortality rates on the front lines are rising to levels that cannot be sustained by the current method of voluntary recruitment, Ukrainian figures suggest. "In December, 35,000 occupiers were eliminated - and this has been confirmed with video footage," said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in a Monday evening address.

Is the fall of Pokrovsk inevitable? Is Trump losing patience with Putin? Will sanctions against Russian oil giants hurt Putin? Ukraine faces'exhausting battles' against Russia in Zaporizhia, Donetsk Russian forces pressed into Ukraine's eastern towns of Pokrovsk and Myrnohrad during the past week as Kyiv's military mounted a stout defence. On Tuesday, Ukraine's commander-in-chief Oleksandr Syrskii said almost half of the battles on a 1,200km (745-mile) front were happening in the two towns, claiming Russia has committed 150,000 troops - almost a quarter of its strength in Ukraine - to capturing them.

Is Trump losing patience with Putin? Will sanctions against Russian oil giants hurt Putin? At least 10 people have been killed, and more parts of Ukraine have been plunged into darkness, after another night of intense Russian attacks across the country, local authorities said, as diplomatic momentum to end the nearly four-year war falters. Ukraine's military announced on Saturday morning that hundreds of Russian drones, as well as missiles launched from the air, ground and sea, targeted critical infrastructure, a frequent Kremlin target as another harsh winter of war looms. Most of the missiles went through defences, with only nine successfully shot down, but 406 of the drones were intercepted.

How is Russia replenishing its military? What is a'coalition of the willing'? How China forgot promises and'debts' to Ukraine How are Europe, the US pulling apart on Ukraine? Russia's Putin hails war advances; Ukraine retakes parts of Donetsk John Psaropoulos is an independent journalist based in Athens and has been Al Jazeera's correspondent in Southeast Europe since 2012. Ukraine reclaimed 62sq km (24sq miles) of territory last month, its commander in chief revealed on Monday, contradicting Russian President Vladimir Putin's recent claim to be advancing "in all directions".

Russia has made gains in Ukraine's Donetsk region before President Vladimir Putin's high-stakes meeting with his United States counterpart Donald Trump in Alaska, raising fears that it may have increased its leverage amid talks aimed at ending the war. In advance of Friday's summit in Anchorage, Moscow's army pounded away at Ukraine's industrial heartland, attempting to seize the flashpoint town of Pokrovsk, a key highway and rail junction in eastern Donetsk, after repeated attempts to breach its defensive line during the week. As Putin and Trump prepared to meet, battlefield analysis site DeepState said that Pokrovsk was partially encircled. In recent days, Russian forces had reportedly seized the village of Yablunivka and the settlement of Oleksandrohrad – both in Donetsk. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who has rejected Putin's demands that Kyiv withdraw from the remaining 30 percent of Donetsk that it still controls, played down the Russian advances, saying on X that his forces were "countering" and "increasing the pressure" on the "occupier".

Kyiv, Ukraine – Taras, a seasoned Ukrainian serviceman recovering from a contusion, expects "no miracles" from United States President Donald Trump's August 15 summit with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin. "There's going to be no miracles, no peace deal in a week, and Putin will try to make Trump believe that it is Ukraine that doesn't want peace," the fair-haired 32-year-old with a deep brown tan acquired in the trenches of eastern Ukraine, told Al Jazeera. Taras, who spent more than three years on the front line and said he had recently shot down an explosives-laden Russian drone barging at him in a field covered with explosion craters, withheld his last name in accordance with the wartime protocol. Putin wants to dupe Trump by pandering to the US president's self-image as a peacemaker to avoid further economic sanctions, while the Russian leader seeks a major military breakthrough in eastern Ukraine, Taras said. "Putin really believes that until this winter, he will seize something sizeable, or that [his troops] will break through the front line and will dictate terms to Ukraine," Taras said.

A Russian drone attack killed a teacher and her husband in Ukraine's Odesa, and wounded 14 others, according to Ukrainian officials. Three of the victims, including a child, were in critical condition. At least two others were killed in another Russian attack on the villages of Kostiantynivka and Ivanopillia in the eastern region of Donetsk on Friday, according to Governor Vadym Filashkin. Explosions were heard in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, on Saturday night, with Mayor Vitali Klitschko warning residents to take shelter from Russian drones "heading for the city", according to the official Ukrinform news agency. Russia's Ministry of Defence said Russian forces have taken control of the settlement of Chervona Zirka in Donetsk.

Ukrainian troops are locked in a bitter battle for the town of Toretsk in the eastern region of Donetsk, which Russian troops entered last Friday. A spokesperson for Luhansk Technical University said Russian troops were demolishing the town as they advanced. "They erase the city with artillery. We have already seen it in other towns of Donbas. They are trying to find weak points in our defence with such small strikes," Anastasia Bobovnikova said.

Kyiv, Ukraine – Svitlana Menyaylo doesn't want to hear a word about the success of Ukrainian forces in the western Russian region of Kursk. Since August 6, Ukrainian soldiers have occupied dozens of Russian villages on more than 1,000 square kilometres (620 square miles) and are digging in to repel an imminent Russian counteroffensive. But for Menyaylo, a seamstress from the besieged town of Pokrovsk in the eastern Ukrainian region of Donetsk, the very presence of Ukrainian troops in Kursk feels like treason. Pokrovsk, the administrative centre of a heavily industrialised agglomeration with a pre-war population of almost 400,000, is likely to be taken over by advancing Russian troops soon. They are less than 10km (6 miles) east of it – and keep inching in every minute after months of heavy bombardment and "meat marches", frontal attacks on Ukrainian positions that have cost Russian generals tens of thousands of servicemen.

Colombo, Sri Lanka – Badly wounded from a Ukrainian attack on a Russian bunker in the Donetsk region, Sri Lankan fighter Senaka Bandara* tried to carry his fellow countryman, Nipuna Silva*, to safety. Senaka*, 36, was bleeding from his legs and hands. Nipuna's condition was worse – he had sustained injuries to his chest, hands and legs, according to Senaka. As the two Sri Lankans retreated under fire, another wave of Ukrainian drones struck their bunker in the occupied Donetsk region where the two served with the Russian military. "While I was carrying [Nipuna], there was another huge drone attack at the last bunker and Nipuna fell to the ground," Senaka said earlier this month while being treated for his injuries in a hospital in Donetsk in eastern Ukraine.