Russian Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov told President Vladimir Putin that Russian forces had seized the cities of Pokrovsk in Donetsk region and Vovchansk in Kharkiv region during a visit by the Russian leader to a command post on November 30, reported DW.

According to the Kremlin readout, commanders of Russia’s “Centre” and “East” military groupings, Valery Solodchuk and Andrei Ivanaev, also reported taking control of the southern part of Myrnohrad in Donetsk region and launching an operation to capture the town of Hulyaipole in Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region.

Ukraine immediately disputed the claims. In its evening briefing, the Ukrainian General Staff said fighting in the Pokrovsk direction was ongoing, reporting 49 Russian assault and offensive actions on November 29, across settlements including Novoe Shakhovo, Doryzhne, Nikonorivka, Bilytske, Rodynske, Myrnohrad, Pokrovsk and Udachne. “Battles are currently under way in five locations,” the statement said. It also cited clashes near Vovchansk, without mentioning any withdrawal from positions.

The announcement of the end of the battle for Pokrovsk comes at an inopportune time for Kyiv as US Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff is due in Moscow today to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The two are due to discuss the US-sponsored 28-point peace plan (28PPP) that lays out the terms for a possible peace deal.

Bankova and Brussels are afraid that the US will agree to deal with Putin over Ukraine’s head and present it as a fait accompli. Trump has consistently backed a pro-Russian stance on the peace deal as it is clear that he wants to do business with Russia. The 29PPP also contains a number of joint business proposals involving rare earth metals (REMs), critical minerals, and oil and gas, among other things.

Both Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Yuri Ushakov, Putin’s top foreign policy advisor, key members of the peace talk delegations, have said that the US plan is “almost acceptable” and was agreed in outline at the Alaska summit on August 15 between Putin and US President Donald Trump. They also said that the various variations floated by the EU in the last week are “unacceptable” as they contain many items, like Nato membership for Ukraine and Nato peacekeepers on Ukrainian soil, that are red lines for the Kremlin.

The question of territory remains the main sticking point. Ukraine held a last-ditch attempt to persuade the US to back its principled position while the Trump administration is taking a more pragmatic line to end the war quickly. The Ukrainian delegation, led by the newly appointed Ukraine’s Defence Minister Rustam Umerov, said that “progress” was made during the Florida summit on November 30, but that some issues remain “unresolved.” The main subject of the talks was recognition of Russia’s territorial gains and US-backed Article 5-like security guarantees.

Zelenskiy has a tough choice ahead of him, as he outlined in a speech on November 21 saying Ukraine has to choose between “dignity and losing a powerful ally”. The president has said multiple times that he will never give up any Ukrainian territory, despite suggesting last year that a referendum be organised to give him the authority to make concessions. The White House has threatened to force the issue by recognising both the Donbas and the Crimea as Russian in defiance of the EU and international law.

On December 1, Putin repeated earlier remarks that the AFU should give up the Donbas voluntarily or Russia would “use force” to take it. The fall of Pokrovsk, if confirmed, adds metal to those words and diminishes Witkoff’s negotiating position.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, speaking in Paris after talks with French President Emmanuel Macron on December 1, denied that either Pokrovsk or Vovchansk had fallen, while warning that the situation there and in other sectors “remains difficult”.

Russian troops infiltrated the city about two weeks ago and bitter street battles have been raging ever since without a fixed front line. The AFR has exploited the growing number of kilometre-long holes appearing in the AFU lines due to a chronic shortage of manpower and the rising desertion by Ukrainian soldiers. The fighting has swung back and forth, but reports make it increasingly clear that Russian forces have taken control of most of the city despite heroic Ukrainian counterattacks.

Against these problems, AFU soldiers defending the frontline have said they will not give up the Donbas to Russia, even if Bankova agrees to a deal on Russia’s terms and some promise to remain at their posts in this case, according to local reports.

Andriy Kovalenko, head of Ukraine’s Centre for Countering Disinformation, said Russia’s statements amounted to “raising the stakes in diplomacy” for Western audiences. He insisted Vovchansk and Kupiansk — another city Russia previously claimed to have seized — remain under Ukrainian control.

Independent OSINT mapping projects tracking the front line have not shown full Russian control of either Pokrovsk or Vovchansk. However, Ukraine’s DeepState project recently reported an acceleration in Russia’s territorial gains, estimating that Russian forces took 134 sq km in early November — twice the area gained in October.

The US-based Institute for the Study of War has said Russia’s advance near Pokrovsk has been aided by months of drone strikes targeting Ukrainian logistics in rear areas, as well as weather conditions — fog and heavy precipitation — that have complicated Ukrainian defence efforts.

Pokrovsk is important as it lies at the nexus of several key roads and railway lines making it a distribution hub for the eastern frontline. However, as the fighting over the city grew more intense, the AFU has rerouted supplies reducing the city’s strategic importance. Nevertheless, the capture of Pokrovsk opens the way to several more important cities behind the AFU lines and Putin claims his troops have made rapid gains in this direction in the last week.