Russia almost completely captures the town of Kurakhove. The next target might be near Pokrovsk. "The situation is difficult," acknowledges the President of Ukraine himself. "It will be a disaster. Breaking the defence in these directions will give the Russians a lot of freedom to manoeuvre,

Pope Francis urged Catholic priests on Sunday to guard against spiritual groups that stoke political divisions, speaking during a one-day visit to Corsica, the first by a pontiff to the French Mediterranean island.

Russian forces are now just three kilometers (1.9 miles) from the outskirts of the key eastern Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk after making advances Wednesday, according to Ukrainian mapping service DeepState.

Pokrovsk, situated about 18 kilometres (11 miles) from the boundary of Ukraine's Donetsk and Dnipropetrovsk regions, has for months been the area of the fiercest battles in Russia's 33-month-old full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Ukraine's military leadership has replaced the commander overseeing defences in the eastern Donetsk region where Russian forces are making swift advances, a military official said on Saturday. General Oleksandr Tarnavskiy,

Russian troops are closing in on Pokrovsk from the east and south. After the capture of Shevchenko village just south of the city, Russian forces are less than 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) from this key logistics hub sitting on the western edge of Donetsk Oblast.