Ukraine war live updates: Fighting rages around Avdiivka in eastern Ukraine; Russian air force likely preserving ammo

Russia may find itself in a position to benefit from the escalating crisis in the Middle East, analysts told CNBC.

They cited how the Israel-Hamas war may help to distract from the Kremlin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, boost Russia’s oil-exporting status and provide Moscow with an opportunity to mediate between disparate regional parties.

However, one geopolitical analyst warned it is also a “very, very nervous moment for Moscow,” particularly if the Israel-Hamas conflict spills over and Russia sees its influence, interests and assets damaged in the Middle East.

Read the full story from CNBC’s Holly Ellyatt.

— Sam Meredith

Ukraine’s state emergency services said Friday morning that one person was killed and 12 others were injured in a Russian attack on Ukraine’s eastern city of Pokrovsk.

The emergency services said via Telegram that two administrative buildings were partially destroyed and three people had been rescued from the rubble.

The update was based on preliminary information as of 10 a.m. local time (8 a.m. London time).

— Sam Meredith

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday is scheduled to meet with world leaders at a summit of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), an international grouping of former Soviet republics.

The one-day event is held in the Kyrgyzstan capital of Bishkek. It comes as part of Putin’s first foreign visit this year, Russian news agencies said, and his first trip abroad since he was issued with an arrest warrant in March by the International Criminal Court.

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said earlier this week that he would not take part in the CIS summit.

Pashinyan’s absence is thought to underscore a growing rift between Yerevan and Moscow in the wake of Azerbaijan’s lightning military operation to take full control of Nagorno-Karabakh.

— Sam Meredith

Ukrainian military officials described scenes of devastation after Russia launched a major offensive effort in and around the strategically important city of Avdiivka.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Thursday that he was “grateful to every warrior and every unit for their resilience” as battles raged near Avdiivka. The Ukrainian city is regarded as a gateway to Donetsk, the capital of the eastern Donbas region.

Russia forces launched an ongoing major offensive on Avdiivka earlier this week but have not yet secured any major breakthroughs and are unlikely to cut off Ukrainian forces in the city, according to analysis published Thursday by the Institute for the Study of War, a U.S. think tank.

A video posted on Telegram on Thursday by Ukrainian military commander Maksym Zhorin showed black smoke billowing out of abandoned and obliterated apartment buildings.

“If the city is in a war zone, there is a high probability that nothing remains of it. That’s how [Russian forces] destroyed Bakhmut, that’s how they are now destroying Avdiivka,” Zhorin said.

— Sam Meredith

Russian Air Force Long Range Aviation (LRA) aircraft are likely preserving stocks of AS-23 missiles for the winter, Britain’s Defense Ministry said, noting that the LRA has not conducted a strike against Ukraine since Sept. 21 — a period of 21 days.

“While such breaks have not been unusual, the last similar break in strikes occurred between 9 March and 28 April 2023, a period of 51 days,” the ministry said in an intelligence update posted via X, formerly known as Twitter.

“In that instance it was likely that LRA had almost depleted its stocks of capable AS-23 missile munitions following its winter campaign against Ukrainian critical national infrastructure,” the ministry added.

“This time, it is likely that Russian LRA are preserving existing stocks of AS-23 missiles as well as using this pause to increase useable stocks in anticipation of further heavy strikes against Ukraine over the winter.”

— Sam Meredith

The International Olympic Committee, or IOC, suspended the Russian Olympic Committee for breaching the Olympic Charter by violating Ukraine’s territorial integrity.

“The Russian Olympic Committee is suspended with immediate effect until further notice,” the group wrote in a statement.

Additionally, the IOC wrote that it “reserves the right to decide about the participation of individual neutral athletes with a Russian passport” who are looking to compete in the Olympic Summer Games in Paris next year and the Olympic Winter Games in Milan in 2026.

— Amanda Macias

Police have finished identifying bodies, finding that 59 people were killed last week in a series of attacks in Hroza in the Kharkiv region, Ukrainian officials said.

In a Google-translated Telegram post, Home Affairs Minister Ihor Klymenko wrote that all the victims were local residents and included the elderly, doctors, farmers, teachers and entrepreneurs.

Forensics teams spent six days piecing together the profiles of each person, using the DNA of surviving relatives and personal items from the homes of those who died.

A village cafe was hit by a rocket on Oct. 5.

“It was important for us to establish the name of each dead person, preserve their memory and record all the victims of the Russian attack,” Klymenko wrote.

— Hannah Ward-Glenton