Update(1710ET): Russia finally and formally announced Monday its forces have captured the city of Pokrovsk in eastern Ukraine, the long fought-over strategic military logistics hub, as well as the city of Vovchansk in the northeast.
The capture of Pokrovsk has long been seen as inevitable, after starting weeks ago Russian troops were filmed patrolling freely and casually in a southern district of the city which had a pre-war population of 60,000.
Russia's military chief of staff, Valery Gerasimov, on Sunday had "informed [President] Vladimir Putin of the liberation of the cities of Krasnoarmeysk and Vovchansk," according to the Kremlin statement first released on Telegram Monday. Krasnoarmeysk is the Russian name for Pokrovsk.
Pokrovsk has long been seen as military gateway for control over the whole east, and if there were any doubts about Russia's military dominance along the frontlines - the overrunning of Pokrovsk has laid these doubts to rest. Russian media is in a celebratory mood...
RT writes of the huge development, "The Russian Ministry of Defense has released frontline footage of its forces operating in key logistics hub Krasnoarmeysk in Russia’s Donetsk People’s Republic."
"The city, which is known as Pokrovsk in Ukraine, along with Volchansk in Kharkov Region, has been fully liberated by Russian forces as of Monday, the chief of Russia’s General Staff, Valery Gerasimov, told President Vladimir Putin during a visit to a command post on November 30."
The state media report continues, "In the raw video footage provided by the MOD, soldiers of Russia’s Center joint group of forces can be seen sprinting from cover to cover and clearing buildings in Krasnoarmeysk."
Russian troops have been taking the city district by district for over the past month, and the precise timing of the Kremlin's announcement to have 'liberated' it is without doubt intentional and strategic. Trump envoy Steve Witkoff is set to meet with President Putin on Tuesday. He will be presenting a revised Trump-backed peace plan, coming off Sunday's meeting with the Ukrainian delegation in Miami, at a moment Ukrainian defense lines in key sectors are collapsing.
As a reminder, all of these battlefield development are unfolding rapidly while Kiev is suffering its worst political crisis of the war, and the Zelensky government is struggling to unify itself and be "on message" - also amid an embarrassing and far reaching corruption scandal and investigation.
Both sides kept their comments somewhat vague after the US and Ukrainian delegations met in Miami on Sunday to discuss a potential outline for a peace deal to end the war with Russia. One of the Ukrainian delegates called it "intense but not negative." Axios wrote, "After an hour in a wider format, the meeting narrowed to three officials from each side — with the line of territorial control virtually the only issue discussed, according to the two Ukrainian officials."
The American side which was led Secretary of State Marco Rubio cited simply that there’s "more work to be done," including more direct engagement with Russia, also as Steve Witkoff is set to travel to Moscow this week to meet with President Vladimir Putin. Jared Kushner, President Trump’s son-in-law, also attended the talks, despite not actually having an official position in the Trump administration. Axios reports some of the details gleaned thus far as follows:
Negotiations between the U.S. and Ukraine on Sunday focused on where the de facto border with Russia would be drawn under a peace deal, two Ukrainian officials tell Axios. They described the five-hour meeting as "difficult" and "intense," but productive.
Rubio said in the immediate aftermath of the meeting, "We had another very productive session, building off Geneva, building off the events of this week. As I told you earlier this morning, our goal here is to end the war, but it's more than just to end the war. We don't just want to end the war. We also want to help Ukraine be safe forever, so never again will they face another invasion."
This presumably is a reference to security guarantees, which were outlined in the Trump-proposed plan and likened to Article 5-like protections, something which Moscow is likely to reject if it does actually invite the possibility of future NATO military intervention.
Rubio is still only emphasizing laying the "groundwork" at this late stage. "And so this is comprehensive, what we're working on here today. It's not just about the terms that end fighting. It's about also the terms that set up Ukraine for long-term prosperity. I thought we started laying the groundwork for that, most certainly in Geneva," he described.
As for the degree to which the Zelensky government is actually on board, Rubio acknowledged, "I think there is a shared vision here that this is not just about ending the war, which is very important. It is about securing Ukraine's future, a future that we hope will be more prosperous than it's ever been."
Amid the typical vagueness present in such post-meeting comments, Rubio did note that progress was made. "I think additional progress was made, and we continue to be realistic about how difficult this is, but optimistic, particularly given the fact that as we've made progress," he said. But a key question remains the degree to which the Ukrainians finally expressed willingness to make territorial concessions in the Donbass and Crimea.
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