Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed Wednesday that Russian troops have surrounded Ukrainian forces in two key eastern cities of Ukraine and offered to negotiate a deal for their surrender. Ukrainian military officials vigorously denied the claim.

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.

The latest in a sustained Russian campaign of massive drone and missile attacks on Ukraine's energy infrastructure brought power outages and restrictions in all the country's regions Thursday, officials said,

The strikes, which were the latest in Russia’s almost daily attacks on the Ukrainian power grid as bitter winter temperatures approach, killed at least six people, including a 7-year-old girl, according to authorities. Children between 2 and 16 years of age were among the 18 injured.

Russia attacked the city of Kryvyi Rih in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast with a guided aerial bomb on the afternoon of 26 October, injuring one person. Source: Oleksandr Vilkul, Head of Kryvyi Rih Defence Council Details: Vilkul reported that the guided aerial bomb had been destroyed by air defence forces.