Fighting for control of the strategic hub of Pokrovsk in eastern Ukraine is intensifying, with the Russian Defense Ministry claiming to have eliminated a group of Ukrainian special forces sent to help defend the area.

As a result of attacks on Ukraine’s power grid, several regions faced rolling power cuts on Sunday, Ukraine’s national energy operator, Ukrenergo, said.

Ukrainian forces hit an important fuel pipeline in the Moscow region that supplies the Russian army, Ukraine's military intelligence said Saturday, as Russia kept up a sustained campaign of massive drone and missile attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.

As winter nears, Russia has stepped up missile and drone strikes on Ukraine's power grid, triggering outages and forcing Kyiv's emergency crews to race to repair damage and manage rolling blackouts.