Putin says Russian forces surround 2 Ukrainian cities but Ukraine says it’s not true
Kyiv, Ukraine (AP) – Russian President Vladimir Putin has demanded that Russian forces surround Ukrainian forces in two eastern Ukrainian cities and be persuaded to discuss a surrender agreement. Ukrainian military authorities strongly denied the claim.
Putin, speaking at a meeting with wounded soldiers at a Moscow military hospital, suggested that the Russian military is ready to open safe roads for Ukrainian and western journalists to see for themselves. “
He pointed out that Ukrainian forces are stationed in Pokrovsk, the main Ukrainian stronghold in the Eastern Donetsk region, and in Kupiank, an important train station in the North-Eastern Kharkiv region.
Russia recently pressed its biggest advantage in troops and weapons at key points along the 6,000-kilometer (600-mile) border, nearly four years after attacking its neighbor.
But Ukrainian armed forces said the Kupianst were surrounded by “thoughts and thoughts” while Ukrainian military spokesman Hryhorii Caspotur told Associated Press that the situation in Pokrovsk was “difficult but under control.”
The Ukrainian Army’s 7th Reactive Corps, which defends Pokrovsk, said Russia had sent up to 11,000 troops in a bid to encircle the city. Some Russian units managed to get inside Pokrovsk, it was acknowledged in the diplomatic post.
Russian authorities have made previous claims and found claims of capturing Ukrainian fortresses to be untrue. Independent verification of the claims was not possible.
Putin’s comments are part of his political efforts to persuade the United States, which is seeking support for peace to end the war, that supporting Ukraine is irrelevant to the rise of the Russian military. He also emphasized what he says is Russia’s ability to improve as he rejects Budge’s war aims.
Putin on Wednesday indicated that Russia is open to an agreement for Ukrainian forces to surrender in the two cities. The media visit to these places will allow journalists to see “The situation in which the Ukrainian military is moving in which the political leadership of Ukraine can make the right decisions about its citizens,” he said.
Small groups of Russian soldiers engaged in house-to-house fighting in Kupiank and Pokrovsk, Ukrainian officials and Russian bloggers said, while artillery targeted roads. Ukraine’s military is increasingly relying on drones to supply troops.
The military research center, the Washington think tank, said on Tuesday that Mussia had advanced in the Pokrovsk area but “almost no control over any positions within the city of Pokrovsk itself.”
It added that the development “is unlikely to cause the immediate collapse of the Ukrainian pocket in the Pokrovsk region.”
Asked about the situation in Kupiank, the spokesman for Ukraine’s Joint Task Force, Viktor Trehulov, said that Putin’s claim did not match the reality on the ground. “To put it simply, it’s not around,” Trehulov told the AP.
Russian forces have been trying for more than a year to take Pokrovsk, which Ukraine has stopped using as a logical hub in the region as Russia has been under pressure for the past year. The city, which was home to nearly 60,000 people before the war, is mostly in crisis.
Meanwhile, Ukraine has maintained its long-range drone and airstrikes in Russian rear areas in an attempt to destabilize the situation by striking oil refineries and manufacturing plants.
The Russian Ministry of Defense said that the air defenses have taken down 100 drones in Ukraine in more than five locations, and 13 airports, including Moscow’s airports, were temporarily closed due to the attack.
Russia, meanwhile, continued its campaign against Ukraine’s power grid and social infrastructure in at least six regions. At least 13 people, including 9, were injured, and officers were injured.
Ukraine’s military says Russia fired 126 strikes and salvos throughout the night.
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