KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday that Russian troops have surrounded Ukrainian forces in two key cities in eastern Ukraine and offered to negotiate their surrender. Ukrainian military officials strongly denied this claim.
Putin, speaking at a meeting with wounded servicemen at a Moscow military hospital, suggested that the Russian military is ready to open safe corridors for Ukrainian and Western journalists so that “they can see with their own eyes what is happening.”
He claimed that Ukrainian troops were encircled in Pakrovsk, a key Ukrainian bastion in the eastern Donetsk region, and in Kupyansk, an important railway hub in the northeastern Kharkiv region.
Russia has recently been building up its massive troop and weapons advantage at key points along a nearly 1,000-kilometer (600-mile) frontline, nearly four years after it invaded its neighbor.
But the Ukrainian armed forces called the claims about the encirclement of Kupyansk “fabrications and fantasies,” and the spokesman for Ukraine’s eastern forces, Grigory Shapaval, told the Associated Press that the situation in Pokrovsk was “difficult, but under control.”
The Ukrainian army’s 7th Rapid Response Corps, which defends Pokrovsk, said Russia had deployed about 11,000 troops in an attempt to surround the city. Some Russian units managed to sneak into Pokrovsk, according to a message on social networks.
In the past, Russian officials made statements about the capture of Ukrainian strongholds, which turned out to be false. Independent verification of the claims was not possible.
Putin’s comments coincided with his diplomatic efforts to convince the United States, which is seeking a peace deal to end the war, that supporting Ukraine is pointless because it cannot counter Russian military superiority. He also highlighted what he said is an improvement in Russia’s nuclear capabilities as it refuses to back down from its military goals.
On Wednesday, Putin said that Russia is ready to agree on the surrender of Ukrainian troops in the two cities. “The media’s visit to these areas will allow journalists to see “in what condition the surrounded Ukrainian troops are there, so that the political leadership of Ukraine can make appropriate decisions regarding the fate of its citizens,” he said.
Ukrainian officials and Russian military bloggers said small groups of Russian troops were fighting house-to-house in both Kupiansk and Pokrovsk, while artillery and drones targeted the roads. The Ukrainian military is increasingly relying on drones to support troops.
The Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank, said late Tuesday that Russian troops had advanced in the Pokrovsk region, but “almost certainly do not now control any positions in the city of Pokrovsk itself.”
They added that the advance “is unlikely to lead to the immediate collapse of the Ukrainian pocket in the Pokrovsky direction.”
Answering a question about the situation in Kupyansk, the press secretary of SKV Viktor Tregubov said that Putin’s statements do not correspond to reality. “Simply put, there is no encirclement,” Tregubov told the AP agency.
Russian troops have been trying for more than a year to capture Pokrovsk, which Ukraine stopped using as a logistical hub in the region as Russia stepped up pressure late last year. The city, which had about 60,000 people before the war, is largely in ruins.
Meanwhile, Ukraine continued to launch long-range drone and missile strikes against Russian rear lines to disrupt logistics by striking oil refineries and manufacturing facilities.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said air defenses shot down 100 Ukrainian drones overnight over five regions, and 13 airports, including three in the Moscow region, briefly suspended flights due to the attack.
Meanwhile, Russia continued its campaign against the Ukrainian power grid and civil infrastructure in at least six regions. At least 13 people, including a 9-year-old, were injured, officials said.
The Air Force of Ukraine said that Russia launched 126 attack and deception drones overnight.
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