Dressed head to toe in military fatigues, Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday obtained the information he had been awaiting for greater than a yr: Russia had taken over the jap Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk.
It doesn’t matter that Kyiv disputed the claim, saying on Tuesday that combating was nonetheless happening contained in the city and that Moscow’s “bravura statements” concerning the seize of Pokrovsk “do not match the reality.”
The level of the extremely choreographed assembly between Putin and his high navy brass was to indicate the world that Russia is profitable in Ukraine.
The Kremlin stated Putin was knowledgeable of the victory throughout a go to to a “command post” on Sunday, though each had been solely publicized late on Monday, on the eve of the Russian chief’s assembly with key aides to US President Donald Trump.
Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff, accompanied by Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, was set to fulfill Putin afterward Tuesday – the newest instalment of a diplomatic whirlwind by the US aimed toward ending the warfare in Ukraine.
Putin has indicated he has no curiosity in discovering compromises. He reiterated his maximalist calls for that Ukraine limits the dimensions of its military, offers up some of its territory, and is banned from becoming a member of NATO.
The proposal Witkoff is bringing to Putin has not been made public, however Ukraine has made it clear it can not settle for any peace plan that might encroach on its sovereignty alongside the traces of Moscow’s calls for.
Putin’s go to to the navy put up on Sunday, simply earlier than his assembly with the Americans, was clearly designed to painting Putin as a sturdy war-time chief who has the higher hand in Ukraine.
Unlike Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who travels to the frontlines to fulfill troopers on pretty common foundation, the Russian chief tends to maintain his distance from the warfare.
His interactions with the navy are uncommon however fastidiously timed – reminiscent of when he traveled to Kursk in March, simply days earlier than one of his earlier conferences with Witkoff in Moscow.
Speaking to his high generals on Sunday, Putin praised them for “liberating” Pokrovsk, which he referred to as by its Soviet-era title of Krasnoarmiisk, which interprets as “Red Army City.”
Kremlin made a level of the Pokrovsk developments on Monday, publishing a video displaying Russian troopers unfurling a Russian flag in Pokrovsk’s city middle – although that exact space has been underneath Moscow’s management for a while.
The strategic worth of Pokrovsk, which served as a Ukrainian provide hub earlier in the warfare, has been drastically diminished in the course of the many months of heavy combating. But its seizure would however signify the largest win for Moscow since 2023.
Ukrainian troops on the bottom in Pokrovsk instructed NCS that the scenario was extraordinarily tough.
One Ukrainian commander with a unit combating in the city stated that Russian troops had “nowhere near complete control” of Pokrovsk and that his unit was nonetheless holding onto their positions contained in the city. However, one other soldier stated that it was “mostly true” that Russia was in management.
NCS can not publish the troopers’ title because of safety restrictions.
This declarations round Pokrovsk echoed the daring statements Russia made about “piercing” the Ukrainian frontline again in August, simply days earlier than the assembly between Trump and Putin in Alaska.
Speaking on the command put up on Sunday, Putin pressured that the Russian navy was “advancing at a pace that guarantees the completion of all our objectives.” He doubled down on the claim he made final week, when he threatened Kyiv that if it doesn’t agree to surrender some of its territories, together with the remainder of the Donetsk area, willingly in the negotiations, Russia will take them by drive.
George Barros, who leads the Russia and Geospatial Intelligence groups on the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), a Washington-based suppose tank, stated the messaging by Putin is aimed toward Ukraine’s western allies as a lot as it’s at Ukraine.
“If he can successfully convince the world that Russia’s battlefield victory is inevitable, then that leads to the question (among Kyiv’s allies) ‘Why are we supporting Ukraine? Let’s just negotiate now,’” Barros instructed NCS final month.
But whereas Russia is inching ahead alongside the frontlines in jap Ukraine, its general victory is by no means sure, Barros stated. The newest ISW evaluation of the Russian forces’ price of advance signifies that a Russian navy victory in Ukraine is “not inevitable” and that a fast Russian navy takeover of the remainder of the Donetsk area – which Putin has been threatening – is unlikely.
So although Putin and his navy commanders proceed to tout Russian advances and peddle the narrative of their inevitable victory, the best manner for Russia to get what it desires is both by coercing Ukraine into taking a unhealthy deal, or by convincing Kyiv’s allies to ease out their assist.
The US could be key for both of the 2 choices.