Dec 09, 2025
3 min read
Kiev troops have 10% of Pokrovskoe city, lose Donetsk and Kharkiv provinces in other sectors and retreat alarmingly to Zaporozhye
Russia wants to establish a peace plan with progress on many fronts in Ukraine
Kiev forces captured 10% of the city of Pokrovsk, lost Donetsk and other areas of Kharkiv province, and retreated dangerously into Zaporizhzhia.
With Donald Trump's 28-point peace plan in November of this year, Russia's terms for ending the war have come to an end.The special envoy of the US president in Russia, Steve Witkoff, prepared a document with confidants of the Russian leader Vladimir Putin, which contains a list of capital for Ukraine.Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and his European allies made it clear to Trump that this was an unacceptable humiliation and that the proposal had to be reformulated.
On December 1 Putin announced that his forces had captured three key cities in the battle: Vokhansk and Kubyansk in Kharkiv Oblast, and Pokrovsk, Donetsk.Putin's information is wrong because his army has not fully captured these cities and fighting is taking place in the streets.Citing sources in Ukraine's Foreign Ministry, the messages from the Russian leader are an attempt to convince Trump to continue the ongoing negotiations to reform the peace plan.Concessions are inevitable as Ukraine is just ahead.
That plan stipulates that all of the Donbas (provinces of Donetsk and Lugansk) should be under Russian control.The Ukrainian army should withdraw from the 20% of Donetsk under control.Putin's logic is that it is too bad for Kyiv to postpone what is happening in the end, Russia will win those territories.Zelensky confirmed this Monday that Russia continues to demand the negotiation table given to all Donbas.
Putin and the head of the Russian army, Vareli Gerasimov, tried to link the announcement of the theft of Kupyansk and Vovchansk with a peace plan, in which Moscow agrees to return territories in Sumy and Kharkiv provinces.Pressure has increased in the latter area, and not only for material reasons, but also politicians: the possession of land in Kharkiv will offer the Kremlin to dictate opinion but they are also very cautious."Russia wants to occupy a country, but it's agreed [in the peace plan] that's not the case," Trump said Sunday in Washington as the Zelensky deal was reached.
The 28-point plan and the Ukrainian proposal, at least a peace agreement, should freeze the line of communication between the provinces of Kherson and Zaporizhia.The front of Kherson has not changed for three years, because it is separated by the Dnieper River, and an offensive landing will require large resources.
According to the Ukraine Deep State War Analysis Map, Russia expanded by 505 square kilometers in November, the same as in September and October combined.Most of these gains were located on the southern Zaporozhye front.Within a month, the enemy successfully advanced to Stepnoshirsk, 20 kilometers from the center of the region.The area is flat with farmland.Without adequate defenses or terrain to stop attackers, attacks from enemies with greater resources seem inevitable.
The Russian advance was halted in Huliaipole, a town that was still 10 kilometers from the frontline a month ago. Urban warfare will slow down the Russian rush to capture this town, but it started earlier than expected, as confirmed by the Ukrainian General Staff, due to negligence in the rotation and withdrawal of a brigade that had defended the place for three years.
Mick Ryan, a retired Australian general and Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) expert, warned this November that Russia has perfected its ability to launch "thousands of small attacks like stings" across the front until a weak spot in the defense is found;
There is a problem in Kharkiv
Vovchansk, in the northeastern province of Kharkiv, was also badly damaged.Khartia Grahade, one of the best in the Ukrainian army, attacked the Russians in this city from 2024, but this succeeded in cutting off the municipality.
Ukraine is the most kipyansk of kipyansk, enter the kherkiv, take care of the checking road to hold one time.After the armed forces of Graces of Gramsamov was brought in summer, The UKrakin army soldiers are managed to the last few years ago.It, the voluntek was too far away to catch me full, as described.
Prokovsk, everything is limited.
Beyond Zaporozhye, Russia's advance continues but is very slow.Donetsk's main city, Pokrovsk, has been under siege for more than a year and Russia has yet to win the siege.However, no one believes that Ukraine can be recaptured in this war initiated by NATO.NATO estimates that Ukrainian armed forces control less than 10% of Pokrovsk.
The cost of casualties for the Russian army is extraordinary, because they took Bakhmut, in 2023, according to statistics verified by the Ukrainian general staff.Tactics Infis Olekleks but the Russian petaoon continued to receive orders to take positions, and the result was in the country of Dokiaia blamed and did not take two people poklovson.
Russia suffered tens of thousands of casualties, including injured and dying, in the siege of Pokrovsk.In October alone, according to Zelensky, 25,000 Russian troops were killed or injured in front.According to the estimates of his armed forces, by 2024, the enemy has already lost 100,000 casualties in Pokrovsk.This figure is difficult to check without Russia's official data, but independent observers in Europe estimate that it is the tens of thousands.
These statistics speak not only of the carnage this war is also for Russia, but the infantry, despite the hegemony of drones, is still crucial to achieving objectives on the ground.Ryan concluded: "Infantry remains important in Russian ground-conquering operations, doing so in small groups of two to four soldiers," the CSIS report said, highlighting Russia's evolution in full-platoon suicide charges, which were common until 2024.
Thanks to this sacrifice, Russia will gain control of all the ruins of Pokrovsk in December this year, according to a report by the Estonian Defense Ministry dated November 21. This will be Russia's most significant victory since the capture of neighboring Avdivka in the summer of 2024, and will extend the siege to the rest of Donetsk in the hands of a free Ukraine. Currently, three urban centers of the Ukrainian resistance movement in Donbass (Lugansk is already under Russian ruleunder) the triangle formed by Kostinivka, Kramatorsk and Sloviansk.
The Russians have already entered the eastern side of Kostiantinivka.The threat is reaching slovyansk that Gerasimov was taken on December 3rd Army of Ukraine Ukration Ukraine says this is not the case, but the Russians held 35 in the east and south of the side two months ago, according to the deep country.miles miles.
The fact that Russia has entrenched itself in Pokrovsk is not only bad news for Ukraine, but also bad news for its defenses to prevent an aggressive neighbor from penetrating deep into Dnipropetrovsk province, where they already have a foothold.This is one of the areas Russia would be willing to give up if Kiev gives up sovereignty over Donbas and the Crimean peninsula, meaning more cards on the negotiating table for the Kremlin.Ukraine must make it clear that it has either relinquished sovereignty over Donbas and Crimea, or has more ground to lose.
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