However, the Institute for War Studies, which tracks the course of the front on the basis of publicly available sources, has serious doubts about the Kremlin's reports. “It has not yet been confirmed that Russian forces have occupied all of Pokrovskeven though they have been operating in the city for 120 days,” we read in the latest ISW report from Monday.
It is therefore unclear whether the Ukrainians still maintain isolated positions in the north of the city. On Monday, Ukraine announced that rapid intervention forces managed to block the Russians in the city.
Pokrovsk is therefore clearly still subject to fighting, even if the city's fall seems only a matter of time. The question remains how high the losses that Ukraine can inflict on the Russians while capturing the city will be.
Russian trick
Military bloggers repeatedly accuse the Russian Ministry of Defense of embellishes the situation on the front. Therefore, if the ministry announces the capture of the city just before Witków's visit, it seems to result from political logic rather than reflect military reality.
The Kremlin wants it this way give Americans the impression that Ukraine's defeat is only a matter of time in order to negotiate more concessions.
In the past, Putin's regime has successfully made the American side feel that Ukrainians will lose the war. Just remember the disastrous first meeting between Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky in the White House at the end of February, when the US president told his Ukrainian colleague that he no longer had any cards in his hand.
In fact, we cannot talk about the collapse of the Ukrainian front. The Russians advance slowly and suffer heavy losses. However, according to Reuters calculations, in November Moscow gained as much territory as it had not conquered in a year. For this purpose, the press agency analyzed the course of the front determined by ISW. However, Moscow has not yet managed to achieve a tactical breakthrough.
Vladimir Putin and Steve Witkoff, Moscow, August 6, 2025.Gavriil Grigorov / AFP
Ukraine still has the cards
Kiev, for its part, is now trying to dispel the impression that there is no alternative to the peace imposed by Russia. Ukraine has stepped up attacks on Russian oil installations and in recent days it has (again) opened a completely new front. In this way, several so-called tankers were attacked. shadow fleet in the Black Sea, and two ships were sunk.
The tankers were sailing in Turkey's exclusive economic zone when they were attacked by maritime drones. The ships were on their way to Russian terminals in Novorossiysk to load crude oil. In recent days, Ukraine also attacked the terminal of the pipeline transporting oil from the Caspian Sea to Novorossiysk.
Kyiv is apparently trying to stop Russia's oil exports through the Black Sea. At the same time, it signals that it still has cards in its hand that could harm Russia. This means that Ukraine is not so desperate and on the defensive that it would have to agree to any political solution.
“The Russians are selling a narrative around the world that Ukraine is allegedly unable to defend itself,” Zelensky wrote on X a few days ago. “The daily results of the fighting of our Ukrainian army, our special forces and attacks deep inside Russian territory show that Ukraine is able to defend itself and its interests“.
