He was totally hammered when he went to sign Russia's army contract. A captured Russian soldier, Mikhail Krasnachokov, taken by paratroopers of Ukraine's 79th Brigade, has explained the reason behind his wish to take part in the killing of the Ukrainians, as per ArmyInform. 

His motivation was money: working as a tractor driver, he earned $495 but had to give most of it to alimony.

"My wife tried to stop me, but I didn't listen — I was drunk," the Russian admitted.

At the same time, Ukrainian troops emphasize that despite Russia's degradation, the enemy should not be underestimated, as there are countless soldiers like him. Ukrainian paratroopers refer to this as the "dangerous power of numbers."

Contract signed over vodka

The captive, Krasnachokov, born in 1983, is from the Altai region. 

"I was at home, drinking vodka, got completely drunk, woke up in the morning, nursed a hangover, and went to the military enlistment office — already totally drunk," he recalls.

He signed the contract on 17 November, and the next day was sent for "training," which lasted three months.

"In the morning, we rode motorcycles, then dug trenches. After lunch — training ground, walking through trenches without ammunition, learning how to 'assault,'" the Russian POW remembers.

According to him, the unit was typical for the Russian army: "All alcoholics, one drug addict."

Regret came fast

"I regretted it immediately, as soon as they took us away," he says.

Krasnachokov reveals that the command intimidated soldiers to prevent them from refusing to fight.

"If you say you don't want to go, they'll crush their own tanks on you. Those who refused to advance were given TM mines to carry. Refuse — they shot you on the spot," he says. 

His unit, the 5th Motorized Rifle Battalion, was ordered to "hold the defense."

"Four motorcycles went one by one. Two blew up, didn't make it. The first time mortars started hitting us — our own. I was completely shocked," he remembers. 

After one motorcycle exploded, he was injured by shrapnel in his arm. He switched to another bike, and together they made their way to the basement.

"We stayed in the basement for four days. On the fourth day, your troops began clearing operations. They shouted, 'Who's here? Surrender!' — and we shouted back, 'We surrender!'"

The captive confirmed that after capture, Ukrainian troops did not beat him, feed him, give him water, or allow him to smoke.

"I tell my countrymen: don't sign a contract. That money isn't worth your life. They won't show this on TV," the Russian soldier concludes. 

Ukrainian airborne forces have cleared a path through hell in Donetsk Oblast. Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence fighters broke through a ground corridor and reinforced the “Tymur” special unit operating in the combat zone after a no-parachute landing in the Pokrovsk sector.

“Following a successful airborne operation, HUR special forces that had secured their designated positions were reinforced by additional units after a ground corridor was established,” HUR said.

According to the Defense Intelligence, the operation is taking place in one of the key districts of Pokrovsk, an area critical for frontline logistics. Ukrainian forces are conducting combat operations aimed at disrupting enemy attempts to expand fire control in this direction.

Special units operate in coordination

HUR noted that other intelligence special units are also active in the sector, though the specifics of their missions are not disclosed for security reasons.

“Coordinated work continues together with all components of Ukraine’s Security and Defense Forces,” the agency added.

Exclusive HUR footage showing precision assault in Pokrovsk

Additionally, HUR released an exclusive video of a special forces combat operation in Pokrovsk, showing for the first time the full cycle of actions, from a no-parachute insertion to a close-quarters assault.

Cockpit footage shows helicopter crews approaching at very low altitude to avoid Russian FPV drones and air-defence systems.

On the ground, fighters immediately occupy their assigned lines and begin assault operations.

The video shows the operation supported by:

• strike FPV drones and spotter/correction drones;
• artillery and rocket strikes on Russian positions;
• armoured vehicles operating in close coordination with assault groups.

Breaking the ring: Defense forces strengthen the Northeastern flank

At the same time, Serhii Okishev, spokesperson for the 7th Rapid Response Corps of the Ukrainian Air Assault Forces, stated that the main objective of the Defense Forces is to push the enemy back further along the northeastern outskirts, according to UkrInform. 

“This will allow us to break the ring so that the enemy loses its fire control over our logistics,” Okishev emphasized.

He added that in this scenario, Ukraine’s Defense Forces would begin to control the Russian supply lines.

Zelenskyy meets airborne troops holding Pokrovsk

Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with the soldiers of the 25th Separate Sicheslav Airborne Brigade, which defends the city of Pokrovsk and its surroundings. 

“Brigade commander Andrii Turchyn briefed the president on the operational situation in his unit’s area of responsibility, the supply of necessary equipment and provisions, logistics, and troop rotations,” the President's Office reported. 

Russian occupiers die by the hundreds in hellish meat grinder near Pokrovsk in Donetsk Oblast. According to the Hostri Kartuzi or "Peaky Blinders" unit of the Ukrainian Army, the occupation troops pay an enormous price for every square meter of Ukrainian land. 

Ukrainian troops use drones to take out the Russian military outside Pokrovsk

“Truly colossal losses of the Russian army near Rodynske,” the unit reported in a caption to photos published on its Telegram channel. (Warning! Graphic content) 

Russian occupying forces are suffering enormous manpower losses, trying to fulfill the military command’s orders to achieve success in the Pokrovsk–Myrnohrad agglomeration at any cost. 

Earlier, Mykola Malomuzh, a former head of Ukraine’s Foreign Intelligence Service and Army General, stated that Russian President Vladimir Putin had ordered his forces to seize Pokrovsk, Myrnohrad, and the entire Pokrovsk agglomeration by 15 November. 

According to the Ukrainian soldiers, almost all the occupiers shown in the images were eliminated by drones.

“Dozens of charred or torn bodies of Russian soldiers lie in the open on the approaches to the city,” the Hostri Kartuzi wrote. 

The Ukrainian defenders emphasized that Russian forces are assaulting positions by “throwing in meat,"  without tactics or strategy. They added that Russia is ready to sacrifice thousands of its troops for even minimal territorial gains.

“So when you see reports of Russian advances on maps, remember the price the occupier pays for every square meter of Ukrainian land,” they said. 

What does Ukraine's General Staff say? 

On the Pokrovsk front, since the start of the day, the Russians have launched 38 assaults in an attempt to dislodge Ukrainian defenders from their positions.

Ukrainian Defense Forces have repelled 36 attacks, are conducting active counter-operations, and have achieved advances of up to 0.4 kilometers in certain areas. 

The situation is on the brink

Russian occupying forces have not encircled Pokrovsk in the Donetsk Oblast, but intense fighting continues inside the city. Small assault groups of Russian troops are attempting to infiltrate urban areas, according to Artem Prybylnov, Head of Communications for the 155th Separate Mechanized Brigade. 

In his comments for the Kyiv24 channel, he said that Russian troops are actively utilizing attack and reconnaissance drones, as well as artillery, and maintain a superiority in manpower.

“The city is a commanding height, and its loss would be painful for the entire front. We must stabilize the situation and do everything possible to prevent its capture," Prybylnov said. 

He added that Russian assault units had been preparing for months for urban fighting aimed at taking Pokrovsk, but are now moving chaotically through the city.

Over the past day, Russian forces have made limited advances within Pokrovsk, where the situation remains on the verge of critical.

Analysts from DeepState reported that Russian troops are establishing observation posts and entrenching themselves in several districts of the city.

According to the 7th Corps of the Air Assault Forces, Ukrainian troops have improved their tactical positions in several neighborhoods while continuing to hold off numerically superior Russian forces.

Ukrainian soldiers hold the ruined cities of Donbas, without infrastructure, under constant fire, refusing to yield even a few hundred meters. Yet the fiery ring tightens, Armiia TV reports.

On the Kramatorsk axis, Russian troops relentlessly assault the positions of Ukraine’s 24th Separate Mechanized Brigade in Chasiv Yar, which continues to prove that the aggressor cannot destroy peaceful settlements with impunity, while also methodically devastating Kostiantynivka.

The Russian offensive on Kostiantynivka depends on another battle for Ukraine's Pokrovsk, which has proven catastrophic for Kyiv's troops in recent weeks.

"The armor never reached"

Oleh Petrasiuk, press officer of the 24th King Danylo Brigade, says that Russian assaults on the Kramatorsk axis are constant, with the occupiers regularly deploying armored vehicles.

“But all that equipment was destroyed — it never made it. They didn’t even manage to deploy their troops, didn’t even reach the center of Chasiv Yar,” he said.

According to him, fierce clashes continue between the city center and the canal, where Ukrainian defenders maintain the line under relentless fire.

Kostyantynivka under fire

While Chasiv Yar holds the front, Kostiantynivka suffers from constant air and artillery strikes. The Russians are systematically razing the city, leaving no chance for civilians.

“Many civilians still remain in the city. A lot of them refuse to evacuate... It’s quite dangerous there. There’s no infrastructure left — and, frankly, life there looks more like death,” said Petrasiuk.

Kostiantynivka anchors the southern approach to the Donbas fortress belt, which includes Sloviansk, Kramatorsk, Druzhkivka, and Pokrovsk. These cities together form Ukraine’s eastern bastion. If it falls, the defensive ring could be flanked, leaving the heart of the Donbas vulnerable.

As of 2025, Russia has been trying to seize the Ukrainian Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts for 12 years. 

A Lithuanian anesthesiologist and former health minister spent two and a half weeks in Ukraine's war zones this month, working as a volunteer medic and studying how to prepare Lithuania's health system for potential military threats.

Dr. Aurimas Pečkauskas worked in the eastern Donetsk Oblast near active combat and assisted with medical evacuations, Lithuanian news agency LRT reports.

He describes what Ukrainian medics do daily as "heroic routine"—work that Lithuania must learn from while there's still time.

His third trip to Ukraine came with a clear secondary purpose: learn what Lithuania's health system needs to survive a crisis.

"While Ukraine fights, we have time to prepare," Pečkauskas said. "It's our duty to learn from their experience, so that if necessary, we know what to do."

Each of Pečkauskas's three visits brought him closer to the fighting. His first visit occurred during his tenure as health minister, involving official tours of civilian facilities in Poltava, Lviv, and Kyiv, located relatively far away from the front line.

The second mission took him to Dnipro's Mechnikov Hospital in eastern Ukraine and involved work with TacMed Ukraine, an organization that evacuates wounded personnel from the front.

During his latest deployment, Pečkauskas worked alongside mobile surgical teams operating in close proximity to fighting. He described working in an operating room when three guided bombs struck nearby.

"The walls shake, generators automatically turn on, and the locals calmly state: 'Looks like a five-hundred KAB [aerial bomb] attack,'" he recounted, adding that hours later, four people arrived at reception after a drone strike in the city.

Working near the front brought unexpected clarity. "The closer to the front, the more peace there is," Pečkauskas said.

"The security instinct is never turned off, of course, but when you're there for a clear purpose—to help, to learn, to understand—there's no room left for everyday worries."

The mission involved exchange, not just assistance. Pečkauskas transported medical equipment from the Lithuanian Association of Anesthesiologists-Resuscitators and surgical instruments from Blue / Yellow non-governmental organization supporting Ukraine.

Lithuanian volunteers observed how Ukrainian teams organize patient flows, run evacuation systems, and manage frontline surgical operations.

Pečkauskas noted changes in the conflict's medical dimensions. Increased drone usage has complicated evacuations from certain areas, sometimes making them impossible. Patients who reach medical facilities often arrive in serious condition with contaminated wounds, blood loss, and hypothermia.

Explore further

Off-duty Ukrainian front-line medics save life at London car crash scene

Medical organizations and facilities are gradually relocating westward to safer areas. He cited one mobile surgical brigade that moved locations weeks before their previous site was bombed.

What drives someone to such missions? Pečkauskas cites both professional curiosity as an anesthesiologist-resuscitator and a sense of responsibility.

"Now is not the time to hide from a potential problem. There definitely won't be time to learn when that problem arrives."

Blue / Yellow Medical missions have created a cohort of several dozen Lithuanian medical professionals, nurses, hospital administrators, and health policy makers with direct exposure to war medicine. Pečkauskas argued these individuals could advise on crisis preparation for Lithuania's health system and would likely be consulted if extreme conditions required action.

Explore further

Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania plan mass evacuations in case of Russian attack – Reuters

Pečkauskas advocated for Finland's approach to national preparedness as a model.

"The Finns have been doing this for many years – without panic, without big slogans, just consistently preparing in all areas. We need the same," he stated.

He called for public discussion of these issues in rational rather than alarmist terms.