This week, Russian military victories and Russian narratives clashed as Moscow’s claim of an unavoidable victory sank in the face of local realities.
After isolating Russian forces inside its northern city of Kupiansk, Ukraine gradually relinquished control of almost all of its territory, defying Russian claims that they had seized it.
Ukrainian defenders from the eastern city of Pokrovsk were also unable to dislodge Russian forces, which supported Moscow’s claims of total control.
In spite of the visual evidence, Moscow attempted to refute Ukraine’s claim that an underwater unmanned vehicle had caused severe damage to a Kilo-class submarine.
Ukrainian forces operating in the northern Kharkiv region reported that on December 12 they had evacuated Russian forces from forests north of the city and had blocked Russian logistics to Kupiansk, surrounded a group of 200 Russians inside, and removed Russian forces.
Geographical footage showed Ukrainian forces advanceing in the city the following day, leading to the capture of Yuvileynyi, a southern suburb, and directing Russian forces to its northern and western suburbs.
By Monday, the Russian position had become even more uncertain. Russian forces claimed that they had used a tactic to control reinforcements during the siege of Chasiv Yar, and that they had only provided them with drones. On Friday, the General Staff of Ukraine announced that its forces were still repressing Russian attacks.
The Russian Defense Ministry asserted that it was in charge of the situation. According to the statement from the Zapad Group of Forces on Monday, “Units of the Zapad Group of Forces maintain reliable control over all Kupiansk districts,” claiming that Ukraine’s efforts to enter the city from the south were being thwarted.
A Russian military reporter wrote on the Telegram messaging app that the only thing that can be confirmed is that the Russian Armed Forces are still occupying some of the center and north of Kupiansk, but the majority of it is already either in the grey zone or the Armed Forces of Ukraine are in charge of.
Colonel General Oleksandr Syrskii, the commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian Army, reported to an audience of Ramstein’s allies on Wednesday that his forces had retaken 90% of Kupiansk. Russian President Vladimir Putin was informed at the same time that “the enemy is unsuccessfully trying to regain” the city by Russian Defense Minister Andrei Belousov.
Belousov, the head of the Ukrainian Center for Countering Disinformation, and Andrii Kovalenko, the minister of the country, continued to fabricate information that Russia controls Kupiansk. The Ukrainian Defense Forces, which are still removing Russians from the area, actually control the majority of the city. However, all of Putin’s officials, including Belousov, who was the first to deny having any control over the city, continue to lie in front of Putin.
Belousov insisted that Russia was about to conquer neighboring Myrnohrad, which Russia calls Dimitrov, and that Pokrovsk, which Russia calls Krasnoarmeysk, was under Russian control. Both towns are almost entirely surrounded by Russian forces in the eastern Donetsk region, north, south, and east.
According to Belousov, Russian soldiers continue to fire at Ukrainian troops in Dimitrov, the last stronghold of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the Krasnoarmeysk agglomeration.
However, Syrskii informed allies that the northern region of Pokrovsk and 56 square kilometers (22 square miles) west of the city had been regained by Ukrainian forces after claiming 16 square kilometers (6 square miles) of territory there. He wrote, “The operations continue, but the logistics in Myrnograd are complex.”
On December 2, Russia asserted complete control over Pokrovsk, and it continued to tell a story.
Explosions at submarines and oil refineries
Ukraine’s use of an underwater unmanned vehicle (UUV) to attack a Russian Kilo-class submarine on Monday (15 December) is regarded as the first such attack in military history.
A massive explosion occurs in the stern section of the submarine in a video of the Russian fleet docking in Novorossiysk in the Black Sea.
Later, the State Security Service of Ukraine claimed responsibility for the attack.
However, the Russian Defense Ministry stated that the sabotage caused damage to not just one ship or submarine, but also to the Black Sea Fleet’s crews stationed in the Novorossiysk naval base.
The ministry released video of the submarine it claimed was attacked, which showed it to be undamaged above the surface, but the video did not show the stern section.
Russia did not comment on any of the long-range strikes launched by Ukraine against Russia.
On December 12, Ukraine struck Yaroslavl, northeast of Moscow, and … Ukrainian drones went off the Afipsky refinery in Krasnodar Krai and the Uryupinsk oil depot in Volgograd on Sunday, causing explosions at both locations. Additionally, they struck Smolensk’s Dorogobuzhskaya power plant.
On Sunday and Monday, the United States and Ukraine’s negotiators met in Berlin for two days. Russian officials announced that the results of those discussions would be communicated to them the following week.
Russia clearly indicated that it plans to continue conducting aggressive operations next year, despite making claims that it was interested in pending peace negotiations.
Belousov said at an expanded board meeting of the Defence Ministry on Wednesday that the key task for the coming year is to maintain and accelerate the pace of the offensive.
The devastation of Ukraine, supported by the West, essentially, was what caused the war in 2022, according to Putin. We are only attempting to put an end to it by completing it.
There was little room for compromise on Moscow’s side, with Putin saying “Russia will undoubtedly achieve the goals of the special military operation” and “Russia will achieve the liberation of its historical lands by military means.”
Sergey Ryabkov, Putin’s deputy foreign minister, made the same prediction in a Tuesday interview with ABC. He said granting the seized Ukrainian land was “a deep and wrong” revision of Russian peace proposals from Europe and Ukraine.
We can’t make a compromise on this because, in our opinion, it would be a revision of a fundamental component of our statehood, as stated in our constitution, Naryshkin said.
Russian recruitments are more expensive than Russian losses.
Russia has made an effort to imply that it has insufficient resources to pursue the conflict it started in Ukraine.
Nearly 410, 000 Russians volunteered for the military, according to Belousov, exceeding expectations for 2025.
32, 800 monthly, that’s the figure. According to the Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank, “Data from the Ukrainian General Staff indicates that Russian forces suffered an average of 34, 600 casualties per month between January and November 2025.”
Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the president of Ukraine, claimed that the majority of these casualties were deaths. Every month, Puntin spends about 30 000 soldiers’ lives on the front. 30 000 people die each month, according to him, according to Dutch parliamentarians, and we have drone footage that confirms this.
Additionally, Syrski questioned whether the Russian recruitment quotas were adequate.
He wrote on Telegram that “Russia’s troops have long been around 710 000”. Despite ongoing recruitment in Russia, the enemy has not been able to increase this number because our soldiers are “reducing” the number of occupiers by a thousand every day through injuries and deaths.
Source: Aljazeera
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