RESTRICTION: USERS MUST CREDIT “RUSSIAN DEFENSE MINISTRY” HANDOUT, MUST NOT OBSCURE LOGO —EDITORIAL USE ONLY—

SHOTLIST:

DONETSK OBLAST, UKRAINE (OCT. 22, 2025) (RUSSIAN DEFENSE MINISTRY - RESTRICTED)

1. VARIOUS OF DRONE SHOTS OF RUSSIAN FORCES TARGETING UKRAINIAN POINTS

2. RUSSIAN SOLDIERS HOLDING FLAG

3. VARIOUS OF AERIAL SHOTS OF AREA AND RUSSIAN SOLDIERS HOLDING FLAGS DONETSK OBLAST, UKRAINE - OCT. 22 - RESTRICTION: USERS MUST CREDIT “RUSSIAN DEFENSE MINISTRY” HANDOUT, MUST NOT OBSCURE LOGO —EDITORIAL USE ONLY— The Russian Defense Ministry said its forces captured the settlement of Lenine in Donetsk region on Wednesday, Oct. 22.

The ministry said units from the Central Group of Forces conducted the overnight operation using thermal vision ponchos to move across open terrain.

Lenine is located about 19 kilometers (11.8 miles) west of the city of Pokrovsk, a key front in the eastern Ukrainian region.

Moscow has repeatedly asserted territorial gains in recent months, particularly in Donetsk, where fighting has intensified around Pokrovsk.

Russia started its "special military operation" in Ukraine in February 2022 to "denazify" and "demilitarize" Ukraine.

According to its memorandum for the settlement of the conflict, Moscow has demanded a ban on Kyiv joining military alliances and withdrawal of Ukraine's troops from Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson, the regions it annexed after a referendum in September 2022, among others.

Ukraine has called the terms an "ultimatum" and has called for a ceasefire as a prerequisite for meaningful talks.