The commanders of the Russian army claim, in front of Putin, the “liberation” of the cities of Pokrovsk and Vovchansk from Ukraine
Ukrainian soldiers from the Zaporozhye region fire a D-30 122 mm howitzer at Russian troop positions in the direction of the city of Pokrovsk, Donetsk region, on November 20, 2025. PHOTO: Smoliyenko Dmytro/Ukrinform/ABACA / Abaca Press / Profimedia
Russian military commanders have informed President Vladimir Putin that the country's armed forces have captured the Ukrainian frontline towns of Pokrovsk and Vovchansk (Vovceansk), Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday, according to the Reuters news agency.
Ukrainian officials have not yet confirmed that any of these cities have fallen into Russian hands. The Ukrainian military on Monday reported about 43 Russian attacks carried out in the front sector around the strategic city of Pokrovsk in the Donetsk region.
Peskov, in an audio recording released by Kremlin-credentialed journalists, said that General Valeri Gherasimov, the chief of the Russian army's general staff, reported to Putin, during a visit to a military command post, the capture of the city of Pokrovsk, known in Russian as Krasnoarmeysk.
A key target for Russia in its army's slow advance through the Donetsk region, the city of Pokrovsk has been under siege by Moscow forces for months.
“Army General Gerasimov reported to the supreme commander (President Vladimir Putin, no) the liberation of the cities of Pokrovsk (in the Donetsk region) and Vovchansk (in the Kharkiv region), as well as the results of other offensive actions of the troops in other sectors,” Peskov said.
The city of Vovchansk, located near the border with Russia in the Kharkiv region of northeastern Ukraine, has also long been the scene of fierce fighting.
Peskov also said another commander, Valeri Solodchuk, told Putin that Russian forces were engaged in “mopping up” operations against Ukrainian troops around Pokrovsk and the nearby town of Mirnohrad.
A third commander, Andrei Ivanev, reported to Putin about the Russian advance further south in Ukraine's Zaporozhye region and an operation he described as the initial stage of capturing the city of Huliaipole.
