Ukrainian marines on war with Russia – amid concerns over Donald Trump’s return to the White House
The Darth Vader theme tune suddenly bleeps from the underbelly of a Ukrainian drone as a marine attaches a mortar round to it before launching the aircraft against a Russian position.
The Ukrainians say their enemy fears this kind of rotary drone in particular because of the size of the bombs it can drop.
Unmanned aircraft used by both sides have transformed the battlefield in the nearly three years since Russia launched its full-scale war.
But another transformation is also looming as Donald Trump prepares to return to the White House.
The president-elect has promised to end the fighting – though without saying how.
Offering a sense of the mood on the ground, several Ukrainian troops told Sky News they were strongly against any kind of brokered deal that gifts land to Moscow.
“I hope the outcome of this war will be just,” said Major Vladyslav Tovstii, 28, commander of the Korsar battalion, 38th Separate Marine Brigade, speaking at a drone command centre in eastern Ukraine where his marines call in and track strikes on Russian targets.
“For me, a just peace is the return of our territory. That’s the only understanding I have; there’s no other way.”
‘A just peace is the return of our territory,’ Major Vladyslav Tovstii said
Battle-hardened despite his young age, Vladyslav has been fighting since before Russia launched its all-out invasion on 24 February 2022.
Standing in front of a wall of screens, showing video feeds from surveillance aircraft and attack drones, the commander gave his view on the possibility of some sort of compromise deal with Vladimir Putin – something that Mr Trump may well attempt to achieve.
“It would mean that justice in the world is not as I see it,” Major Tovstii said.
“A compromise is no longer about justice; it’s about concessions, which means that if you are stronger, you can take what you want.”
His brigade is among the units attempting to stop a grinding Russian advance towards the frontline city of Pokrovsk.
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The use of drones is a key way for Ukraine to compensate for a lack of manpower compared to the number of soldiers Russia is sacrificing daily for every inch of captured land.
But Russian forces also operate large numbers of unmanned aircraft, with each side constantly adapting their machines to be able to fly further and carry larger payloads.
Another evolution is in the area of electronic warfare, which is designed to jam the signals of enemy drones and force them out of the sky. Countering this threat is critical.
Sky News was given exclusive access to a makeshift Ukrainian drone factory where engineers and other specialists from the marine brigade adapt aircraft to give them a better chance of defeating Russian jamming efforts and flying deeper into Russian-held territory.
“If you don’t want to sacrifice your men, your soldiers, you better make this fight distant, right?” said a technician at the factory, who went by the name “Cartman” from the cartoon series South Park.
He said the success rate for his unit’s drones is slightly above 50%, but even that level is getting harder to sustain as Russia improves its electronic warfare tactics.
Armed with tools and hunched over drone parts, the team here is working as hard as ever despite growing uncertainty about the future of the war.
“This is such a waste of time, of my time,” said Cartman, who volunteered to join the military last year, giving up a senior job at an international company. He spoke in English.
“While some people are creating technologies to save life and to make life better, we are working on technologies – not just to kill the enemy, but to destroy him completely.
“This is out of (contrary to) common sense, but we have no choice. There’s no way out. We have to win this war.”
Cartman warned Donald Trump ‘you cannot make friends with a shark attacking you’
Asked what his message was for Mr Trump, Cartman said: “You cannot make friends with a shark attacking you. You cannot talk common sense if the animal wants to kill you.
“What negotiation skills will you apply if you have just to fight for your survival?”
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Back with the marine who had The Imperial March from Star Wars bleeping out of his drone, the attack operation is under way.
The serviceman raced with a colleague to an underground shelter after attaching the mortar round to the drone, which is called “Perun”.
It is dangerous to spend too much time outside because Russian eyes are also in the sky.
After the aircraft took off, they tracked its progress on a screen which showed live footage from a video camera also fixed to the machine.
Once over a Russian position close to Pokrovsk – where the heaviest fighting is taking place – the explosive was dropped. The team confirmed a hit.
Oscar, a company commander in charge of this unit, said he had two views on the possibility of a deal that meant Russia held on to some Ukrainian land and the conflict was frozen.
On the one hand, the 22-year-old said it would be good if it meant no more Ukrainians dying.
But on the other hand, speaking in broken English, he said: “If we froze this war, it gives our enemy time for preparing [the] next attack. And this is so bad because we don’t have many people.”
‘We don’t have many people’ left to fight Russia if they regroup, Oscar said
Asked how he felt about the prospect of a frozen war, Oscar said he would be sad “because my many friends dying… I lost… men of my family… For what? For what [were they] dying?”
Additional reporting by Azad Safarov, Ukraine producer
The US secretary of state has hailed a “tremendous amount of progress” on peace talks after the US and Ukraine delegations met in Geneva – but said that negotiators would “need more time”.
Marco Rubio said the meetings in Switzerland on Sunday have been “the most productive and meaningful” of the peace process so far.
He said the US was making “some changes” to the peace plan, seemingly based on Ukrainian suggestions, “in the hopes of further narrowing the differences and getting closer to something that both Ukraine and obviously the United States are very comfortable with”.
Mr Rubio struck an optimistic tone talking to the media after discussions but was light on the details, saying there was still work to be done.
US secretary of state Marco Rubio in Geneva after peace talks with Ukraine. Pic: Reuters
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Analysis: Rubio strikes an optimistic tone – but is light on detail
“I don’t want to declare victory or finality here. There’s still some work to be done, but we are much further ahead today at this time than we were when we began this morning and where we were a week ago for certain,” Mr Rubio said.
He also stressed: “We just need more time than what we have today. I honestly believe we’ll get there.”
Sky News’ defence analyst Michael Clarke said on the initial US-Russian 28-point peace plan that it was Donald Trump against the world, with maybe only Moscow on his side.
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Is Trump’s plan a ‘capitulation document’?
Mr Rubio praised the Ukrainian attitude towards the talks and said Mr Trump was “quite pleased” after he previously said in a social media post that Ukraine’s leaders had expressed “ZERO GRATITUDE” for US efforts.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his nightly address on Sunday that there are signs that “President Trump’s team hears us”.
In a news release on Sunday evening, the White House said the day “marked a significant step forward”.
“Ukrainian representatives stated that, based on the revisions and clarifications presented today, they believe the current draft reflects their national interests and provides credible and enforceable mechanisms to safeguard Ukraine’s security in both the near and long term,” it claimed.
Despite diplomatic progress in Geneva the finish line remains a long way off
We’ve witnessed a day of determined and decidedly frantic diplomacy in this well-heeled city.
Camera crews were perched on street corners and long convoys of black vehicles swept down Geneva’s throughfares as the Ukrainians worked hard to keep the Americans on side.
Secretary of state Marco Rubio did not want to go into details at a press “gaggle” held at the US Mission this evening, but he seemed to think they had made more progress in the last 96 hours than the previous 10 months combined.
The Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy also seemed satisfied enough, posting on Telegram that there were “signals President Trump’s team is hearing us” after a day of “numerous meetings and negotiations”.
That said, we are a long way from the finish line here – something Rubio acknowledged when he said that any proposal agreed here would have to be handed over to the Russians.
At that point, negotiations to stop the war would surely get tougher.
President Putin has shown little or no inclination to stop the conflict thus far.
This, then, is the most important reason the Ukrainians seem determined to keep the Americans on side.
European leaders have presented a counter proposal to the widely criticised US-Russian peace plan, with suggestions including a cap on Ukraine’s peacetime army and readmitting Moscow into the G8.
This will only take place if the plan is agreed to by the US, Russia and Ukraine, and the G7 signs off on the move. Russia was expelled after annexing Crimea in 2014.
The counter proposal also includes US guarantees to Ukraine that mirror NATO’s Article 5 – the idea that “an armed attack against one NATO member shall be considered an attack against them all”.
The initial peace plan was worked up by the White House and Kremlin without Ukraine’s involvement, and it acquiesces to many of Russia’s previous demands.
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It covers a range of issues – from territorial concessions to reconstruction programmes, the future Ukrainian relationship with NATO and the EU, and educational reforms in both Ukraine and Russia.
Footage geolocated by Sky News showed Russian soldiers walking through the Shakhtarskyi neighbourhood on the outskirts of Pokrovsk on Thursday.
The video sheds light on the situation in this key frontline area, as Russian forces slowly encroach on Myrnohrad, the satellite town to Pokrovsk, and one of its last remaining outposts.
Videos geolocated by Sky News show fighting intensifying in recent weeks, as Russian forces attempt to gain control of the towns and their network of road and rail intersections.
Gaining control here would give Russia a base from which to access key cities further north that form part of Ukraine’s “fortress belt”.
Russian forces are advancing from all directions, according to the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), with only one small opening to the northwest of Myrnohrad remaining.
Estimated to be only 3km wide by military experts, this withdrawal corridor is patrolled by Russian drone units which monitor the area for moving vehicles and those who may attempt to leave on foot.
Russian forces have been advancing on Myrnohrad since late October.
Video from a Ukrainian unit in Myrnohad, posted on 29 October, shows a Russian vehicle attempting to enter the town from the northeast. The tank is attacked and soldiers attempting to enter on foot are targeted.
Video posted on 3 November shows Russian forces on the ground in the south of the town.
By 8 November, Russian strikes begin to pummel the northeast of Myrnohrad, the location of many of the town’s high-rise buildings, at that time, held by Ukrainian forces.
George Barros, Russia Team & Geospatial Intelligence Team Lead at ISW, told Sky News that Russian strategy in Pokrovsk has been to erode Ukrainian logistical capacity using drones and artillery over the course of several months.
“After denying supply lines and degrading the frontline forces by essentially cutting them off from behind and starving them out in their positions, then the Russians move forward with their infantry and frontal assaults,” Barros explained.
Capture the flag
For a brief period, it looked as though Russian forces had captured Myrnohrad.
Videos posted on 13 November appeared to show a Russian flag flying over the Myrnohrad mine.
However, video posted the following day showed a Ukrainian drone shooting it down.
Both Russian and Ukrainian forces continue to fight for control of Myrnohrad, with videos posted on the 19 and 20 November showing Russian airstrikes on Ukrainian positions in the town, and Ukrainian drone strikes targeting Russian forces on foot.
While the exact numbers of Russian and Ukrainian forces in the area remains unclear, reports indicate that three key Russian units are active in Pokrovsk and Myrnohrad, and are advancing on the towns from the north and south.
A number of Ukrainian units remain inside the towns, including the 145th Assault regiment and the 32nd, 35th, 38th and 155th Brigades. Reports indicate that more Ukrainian units have been moved into surrounding areas to hold the withdrawal corridor open.
Sky News reached out to the Ukrainian brigades still in Myrnohrad, but they declined to comment, citing military regulations.
Strategic significance
Natia Seskuria, associate international security fellow at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), explained that the area is important for the Ukrainians to keep and the Russians to take because of its strategic position.
“Situated at a major road and rail intersection in Donetsk Oblast, Pokrovsk has functioned as a central artery for moving troops, equipment, and supplies to Ukrainian units deployed along the surrounding front.”
Russia “would gain a platform to redirect its offensive efforts toward Ukraine’s principal defensive urban centres… including Kramatorsk and Slovyansk,” Seskuria said.
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Ukrainian and Russian soldiers in Pokrovsk have fought intensely and at close quarters over the last month.
In late October US-made Black Hawk helicopters containing specialist troops directed by Ukrainian military intelligence entered Pokrovsk to try to keep the town.
But as Russian troops advance, Myrnohrad is becoming the last stronghold of Ukrainian forces in the area.
Uncertain future
At least up until 12 November, there were still civilians living in Pokrovsk and Myrnohrad, despite strikes on buildings in both cities.
Residents sit in an armoured vehicle as Ukrainian police officers evacuate them from Pokrovske on 11 November. Source: Reuters
A post made on that day by the Donetsk state regional administration estimated 1,200 people remain living in Pokrovsk and 900 in Myrnohrad.
Evacuation is only possible with the help of the military or police, and it is not clear how many have evacuated in the 11 days since.
Barros of ISW says gaining Pokrovsk would increase Russia’s leverage at the negotiating table.
“If the Russians can successfully convince enough international leaders that, okay, the Russians took Pokrovsk, they’re going to take the next thing, and they’re going take the thing, so now let’s negotiate, then that is a strategic victory for the Russians.”
Production by Michelle Inez Simon, Visual Investigations Producer.
The Data x Forensics team is a multi-skilled unit dedicated to providing transparent journalism from Sky News. We gather, analyse and visualise data to tell data-driven stories. We combine traditional reporting skills with advanced analysis of satellite images, social media and other open source information. Through multimedia storytelling we aim to better explain the world while also showing how our journalism is done.
Torrential rain, flooding and landslides has left more than 100 people dead or missing in Vietnam.
Rainfall has exceeded 74.8in (1.9 metres) in some parts of central Vietnam over the past week.
The region is a major coffee production belt and home to popular beaches, but it is also prone to storms and floods.
Fatalities have been reported in Dak Lak province and the neighbouring Khanh Hoa province.
Parts of Quy Nhon has been under several feet of water. Pic: picture-alliance/dpa/AP
Footage has been released by local police of a dramatic rescue, involving a drone which airlifted a stranded man to safety from an island in the middle of the Serepok River, Dak Lak province.
The government estimates the flooding has cost the economy around 8.98 trillion dong (£260m).
More than 235,000 houses were flooded and nearly 80,000 hectares of crops were damaged, Vietnam’s disaster agency said.
On Thursday, VietnamNet newspaper said that a suspension bridge on Da Nhim River in Lam Dong province had been swept away.
Video footage posted online showed the bridge being swallowed by the river in just a few seconds.
Naval forces have been deployed to help stranded citizens in Khanh Hoa, the Vietnam News Agency reported, adding that floodwaters had reached record highs in many areas.
Photos shared in state media reports showed residents, including children, sitting on the roofs of flooded houses in Khanh Hoa, Gia Lai and Dak Lak provinces.
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A seven-year-old girl was rescued late on Wednesday in Da Lat, the capital of Lam Dong province, after being buried by a landslide, the Nhan Dan newspaper reported.
The landslide, triggered by heavy rain, knocked down and buried part of the house where the girl was staying.
She was pulled out after an hour and a half and was taken to hospital with a broken leg, according to the report.
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