Russia and Ukraine have traded almost daily assaults on each other’s energy infrastructure as U.S.-led diplomatic efforts to stop the nearly four-year war make no impact on the battlefield.

The battle for Pokrovsk - on a big road and rail artery in the Donetsk region - has been going on for well over a year.

More than 1,400 citizens from three dozen African countries are fighting alongside Russian forces in Ukraine, Kyiv's foreign minister said on Friday.

Russia's Vladimir Putin congratulated Donald Trump on his election win, saying he was "hounded from all sides."