Vladimir Putin has claimed Russian forces have taken control of the strategic city of Pokrovsk in Ukraine, as he sought to project confidence before a key meeting on Tuesday with a US delegation to discuss a possible peace deal to end the war.
Dressed in military fatigues during a visit to a command centre on Monday evening, the Russian president hailed what he called the “important” capture of Pokrovsk – once a major logistical hub for the Ukrainian army – though Ukrainian officials later disputed the claim.
“I want to thank you. This is an important direction. We all understand just how important,” Putin told his top brass in a video released by the Kremlin. “It will ensure solutions going forward to the tasks that we initially set at the beginning of the special military operation,” he added, using the Kremlin’s preferred term for its nearly four-year invasion.
Ukraine’s military on Tuesday denied Pokrovsk had fallen, saying its forces remained in control of the northern part of the city.
Russian forces roll ‘Mad Max-style’ into battered Pokrovsk – video
Speaking in Paris alongside the French president, Emmanuel Macron, Ukraine’s president, Volodomyr Zelenskyy, acknowledged that Russia had made “some advances and carried out several offensive actions and operations”, but stressed that “none of these operations has been successful”.
Russia has spent more than a year attempting to seize the frontline hub, seen as a gateway to Donetsk, and has suffered heavy losses in the process.
Ukrainian analysts and military bloggers have acknowledged that Russia now holds most of Pokrovsk, with battlefield maps showing its forces largely in control.
Putin’s carefully choreographed appearance with the military came on the eve of talks with a US delegation led by Donald Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff.
Witkoff, accompanied by Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, arrived in Moscow on Tuesday after holding discussions with Ukrainian officials in Florida on a possible negotiated settlement.
A team of senior Ukrainian envoys met US officials on Sunday to discuss proposed revisions to a 28-point peace plan developed in earlier US–Russia contacts, a roadmap to peace that dramatically favoured Moscow.
In Paris, Zelenskyy said the updated version of the peace proposal “looks better” but stressed it was “not over yet”.
As part of a wider effort to shore up European backing, Zelenskyy headed to Ireland on Tuesday for further meetings.
Many analysts believe that substantial changes to the original document are unlikely to be acceptable to the Kremlin, casting doubt on the prospects for real progress in the talks.
The Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, on Tuesday said Putin and Witkoff would discuss the “understandings” reached recently between Washington and Kyiv, adding that Russia remained open to talks but would insist on achieving the goals of its “special operation”.
Those goals amount to sweeping demands that would severely erode Ukraine’s sovereignty, including deep cuts to its armed forces, a ban on western military assistance, far-reaching limits on political independence, and the handover of Ukrainian-controlled territory in the east of the country.
Echoing senior officials, Russian state media struck a notably boastful tone before the US visit. Komsomolskaya Pravda, often described as “Putin’s favourite newspaper”, wrote that the president’s remarks suggested “more and more Ukrainian territory is coming under our control – and that next time Russia’s terms may be tougher”.
The paper also implied that Moscow views the latest US-Ukrainian talks as a dead end, claiming Kyiv is refusing to capitulate: “The US has tried for the third time in the past 10 days to pressure Ukraine, and Washington has once again failed.”
Putin has signalled that the Russian military is ready to keep fighting if diplomacy falters, boasting that his forces remain on the offensive across the battlefield.