For the fifth week in a row since Russia’s concerted offensive began to take its eastern city, Ukraine has waged a fierce defense of Pokrovsk while trying to finesse a US peace plan that has been heavily criticized by US lawmakers.
The Gornyak and Shakhtersky microdistricts in Pokrovsk have been completely liberated, according to the Russian Ministry of Defense on Monday.
It announced on Tuesday that fighting was taking place in the Myrnohrad district of Vostochny and Zapadny east of Pokrovsk.
Both cities are located in a box that the Russian forces have gradually tried to shut down in the Donetsk region of Ukraine. Russia claims to have effective fire control over those supply routes, and supplies and reinforcements can only currently reach Ukrainian forces from the west.
Officials from Ukraine continued that the battle for Pokrovsk’s defense was still ongoing. According to Ukraine’s head of the Center for Countering Disinformation, Andriy Kovalenko, who cited the 7th Air Assault Brigade fighting there on Sunday, “our positions are held in the center of Pokrovsk, shooting battles continue, and the enemy fails to consolidate.”
The Pokrovsk-Myrnohrad enclave has clearly seen a strain in its resources, but the presence of Russian offensive forces has not diminished their ability to attack elsewhere.
Russia claimed to have seize Petropavlovka in Donetsk, Tikhoye and Otradnoye in Dniperopetrovsk, Novoye Zaporozhiye and Zatishye in Zaporizhia, and Petropavlovka in Kharkiv, Novoselivka, Maslyakovka, Yampol, Stavki, Zvanovka, Petrovskoye, Ivan
About a half-dozen villages have been attacked each week by the Russian forces.
However, some of Russia’s assertions are disputed by Ukraine.
Russian General Staff Sergei Gerasimov announced on November 20 that his forces were setting up Ukrainian units on the left bank of the Oskil River to seize the city of Kupiansk in the northern Kharkiv region of Ukraine.
However, Kovalenko responded, “Russia did NOT occupy Kupiansk,” in a response to her on Telegram. “Gerasimov is just a liar,” he claimed a week later.
According to its commander-in-chief, Oleksandr Syrskii, Ukraine has also had successes on the ground. The Defense Forces of Ukraine were able to carry out counteroffensive operations in the Dobropillia direction from the end of August to the end of October this year, he claimed, referring to a failed Russian flanking manoeuvre in a town to the northwest of Pokrovsk.
The units then liberated more than 430 square kilometers [166 square miles] of north of Pokrovsk, breaking up the enemy’s offensive group. More than 13, 000 people were killed and hurt in Russia.
In addition to putting more pressure on Ukraine’s rear, Russia also launched 1, 169 drones and 25 missiles into its cities between November 20 and November 26. Zelenskyy demanded more short- and medium-range defenses after Ukraine successfully destroyed 14 of the drones and 14 of the missiles.
Disputed diplomacy
A 28-point peace plan presented by Donald Trump’s administration last week has been criticized as too Russia-friendly by members of the US Congress, including Europe, Ukraine, and members of the US Congress.
The original plan provided crucial details that Russia had demanded. That included the Ukraine’s promise to never join NATO and the force’s surrender of nearly all of Donetsk’s unoccupied territory. The other Western allies of the US and Ukraine would have to accept that those annexations were legal.
Within 100 days of the plan’s signature, Russia appears to believe that Zelenskyy would win. However, Ukraine would have to hold an election.
Additionally, Russia has urged Ukraine to effectively disarm. The plan’s goal is to reduce its military by about a third, to 600,000, according to the 28-point plan.
After seeing the plan, Zelenenskyy told the Ukrainian people that “right now is one of our history’s most difficult times,” and that he had to choose between the loss of our dignity and the threat of losing a key partner.
Senator Roger Wicker, the Republican chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, stated in a statement that “I am very skeptical that this so-called “peace plan” will bring about peace.
It would be helpful to know for sure who the plan’s author and the location were, according to Polish Premier Donald Tusk, who was polite about it on social media.
According to the Reuters news agency, the plan heavily benefited from a Russian non-paper that the White House received in October.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told reporters that “Trump’s 28-point plan, which we have,” includes the important agreements reached at the summit in Alaska.
Yury Ushakov, a senior Putin aide, told the TASS Russian state news agency, “I would say not all, but many of the provisions of this plan, they seem to us to be acceptable.”
A Ukrainian delegation led by former defense minister Rustem Umerov met with US negotiators in Geneva on Sunday to discuss the draft document, which was being drafted by the United Kingdom, France, and Germany.
Europe ruled out allowing territorial disputes brought on by aggression, and suggested that territorial negotiations must begin at the Ukrainian border without having to give prior consent. Additionally, it suggested that Ukraine should keep a sizable army of 800,000 people under its belt and receive a reliable NATO security guarantee.
Their final decisions will be made by Trump and Zelenskyy, according to their joint statement released on Monday, which stated simply that they would “continue intensive work.”
Zelenskyy claimed that a significant amount of work had been done to turn the original 28 points into a workable agreement. He cryptically described the work that remained as “very challenging” and said that the list of necessary steps to end the war could now become realizable.
Trump and Zelenskyy have been pushed by Ukraine to have a meeting before December, but on Tuesday, Bloomberg released transcripts of a phone conversation between Trump confidant Steve Witkoff and Yury Ushakov, in which Witkoff advised Ushakov to call him before Zelenskyy had a chance to meet him. Putin should flatter Trump as a peacemaker to influence his decision-making and work with him directly to create the peace plan, according to Wittkoff.
Following that leak, Witkoff was forced to travel to Moscow the following week to meet with Russian officials to discuss the revised plan. After reviewing the original 28-point plan, General Kellogg resigned as mediator for Ukraine, which was confirmed by the White House.
It is obvious that Witkoff is completely in favor of Russians. He cannot be trusted to lead these negotiations. Would a Russian-paid agent be more modest in his efforts? Republican Congressman Don Bacon wrote about it on social media.
It is obvious that Witkoff is completely in favor of the Russians for those who oppose the Russian invasion and want to see Ukraine emerge as a sovereign and democratic nation. He cannot be trusted to lead these negotiations. Would a Russian-paid agent be more modest in his efforts? He ought to be fired. https://t.co/dxMsda0YV5
Vladimir Putin, the president of Russia, made his first significant comments on the peace proposal in Bishkek, Kyrgystan on Thursday, saying that signing documents with the Ukrainian leadership is pointless “because Zelenskyyy had outlived his mandate.”
According to him, “I think the Ukrainian authorities made a fundamental and strategic error when they gave in to the fear of voting in the presidential elections in the spring of 2025,” Zelenskyy’s four-year term was up.
Zelenskyy was elected in 2019, and under the terms of the constitution’s “national emergency,” Zelenskyy has twice been elected.
The 28 points, according to Putin, are “a set of questions that were suggested for discussion and final wording,” and do not constitute a peace treaty.
We generally concur that this could serve as the foundation for upcoming agreements, Puntin said.
Source: Aljazeera
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