General Oleksandr Lutsenko has come in for severe criticism recently, amid reports Russian forces are less than two miles from the strategic city.

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.

Here is the situation on Sunday, December 15: Russia has begun using North Korean troops in significant numbers for the first time to conduct assaults on Ukrainian forces battling to hold an enclave in the country’s Kursk region, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.

Russia's incremental gains in the Donetsk region, that have gathered pace in recent weeks, are shown in the latest Newsweek map.

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.

Ukraine fired its general overseeing fighting in the country’s eastern region in the face of Russia’s fastest advances since the war began. Oleksandr Lutsenko was removed from his position as commander of the Donetsk operational and tactical group and sent to another post in the army’s ground forces,