🔗 Share this article Trump Affirms He Isn't Considering Providing Tomahawk Cruise Missiles to Kyiv. Ex-President Trump remarked on Sunday that he was not actively considering providing Ukraine with advanced Tomahawk missiles. When questioned by a journalist on Air Force One, he replied, “No, not really.” Earlier reports had claimed the Pentagon informed the White House that American inventories of Tomahawks were ample to allow such a transfer. Ukrainian Military Efforts Persist Without Weapon Shortage While Ukrainian forces has been requesting Tomahawk missiles to conduct far-reaching strikes against Russian targets, it has still managed to conduct a successful operation using its domestically-produced unmanned aerial vehicles and missiles against Moscow's armed and key objectives, including fuel storage facilities and refineries. On Sunday, a Kyiv's airstrike targeted the port facility on the coast, causing a fire and damaging two ships, according to Moscow officials. Nearby Russian airports in the region also had to be closed. Turkish Refineries Turn to Non-Russian Oil Supplies Turkey's biggest oil refining facilities are increasing procurement of non-Russian crude in response to the recent international restrictions on Russia, as reported by industry insiders. Turkey is a major buyer of oil from Russia, together with China and India, but refiners are following New Delhi's lead in cutting back supplies. STAR Refinery Diversifies Crude Sources A major Turkey's refining plants, SOCAR Turkey Aegean Refinery (STAR), operated by Azerbaijani firm SOCAR, has lately purchased four cargoes of crude from Iraq, Kazakhstan, and other alternative producers for December delivery, as per insiders. This amount to roughly 77,000 to 129,000 barrels per day (bpd) of non-Russian crude, varying by cargo size. By comparison, oil from Russia made up nearly all of the plant's crude intake in recent months, totaling approximately 210 thousand barrels per day, based on trade data. SOCAR refused to comment. Tupras Also Increasing Non-Russian Buys Another major Turkey's refiner – Tupras refinery – was also raising acquisitions of alternative grades of crude, as stated by two sources. Tupras was also expected to soon entirely phase out imports from Russia at one of its two main domestic plants to continue fuel shipments to Europe without breaching the European Union's incoming sanctions. Tupras did not respond to a request for comment. Ukrainian Deploys Special Forces to Eastern City Kyiv has sent special forces to the embattled east city of Pokrovsk in an attempt to push back an intense Russian offensive involving thousands of soldiers, as stated by Kyiv’s top military leader. The city, dubbed “the gateway to Donetsk,” is located on a key supply line for the Ukrainian military and has been in Moscow’s crosshairs for over a year as Moscow aims to control the whole east Donetsk area. Latest Updates in Pokrovsk No fewer than two hundred Moscow's troops had penetrated the city's defences, Kyiv reported recently, while military experts assessed that additional forces were closing in on its outskirts in a pincer-shaped maneuver. In his nightly speech on Sunday, Volodymyr Zelenskyy mentioned the combat in Pokrovsk and “results in the destruction of the invading forces.” Ukrainian President Announces Strengthened Air Defence Network The president, who has been pushing his partners for additional air defences to hold off Russia’s strikes, announced on Sunday that Ukraine had strengthened its air defense capabilities with Berlin's assistance. “We've strengthened the U.S.-made Patriot component of our national air defence,” Zelenskyy said, referring to the sophisticated U.S.-made defense systems. Not providing additional information, the Ukraine's leader specifically thanked Germany and its chancellor, the German chancellor, for thanks. Russian Attacks Kill Civilians, Cut Power Moscow's drones and rockets targeting Ukrainian territory killed at least six individuals, including 2 minors, and disrupted electricity to tens of thousands of residents, officials said on Sunday. Russian forces struck the Dnipropetrovsk and Odesa regions, said the representatives of Ukraine’s chief prosecutor. The victims were male minors aged eleven and fourteen, stated Ukraine’s ombudsman. Russia’s attacks disrupted power to the whole eastern Donetsk region as well as nearly 58,000 households in the south Zaporizhzhia region, their local leaders said. Ukraine’s Vostok military unit confirmed some of its personnel were killed in a particular of the Russian strikes on Dnipropetrovsk.