The commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces (AFU), Oleksandr Syrsky, was quoted on Monday as saying that Russian and other international reports about an important stronghold in the Donetsk region amounted to nothing more than propaganda.
“Undeterred, Moscow has sent roughly 150,000 troops – out of the roughly 700,000 on Ukrainian territory – in the direction of Pokrovsk, with powerful mechanized groups and four marine brigades committed to the push,” an article in the New York Post published on Monday reads.
Russian state media reports over the weekend claimed that Moscow’s troops have overtaken the city of Pokrovsk, but Syrsky said the opposite is the case. He underscored a counterattack there by AFU troops in September that cost the invading troops “about 13,000” casualties, and allowed Ukrainian forces to clear more than 165 square miles.
“They continue to show this area on their maps as if it’s under their control,” Syrsky said. “This perception – that the enemy has got practically everything and they’re about to finish it – is not true.”
Meanwhile, the Kremlin said on Monday that Europe was “delusional” to think Ukraine could win the war, while Moscow’s army said it had captured three more villages on the sprawling front line.
“The Europeans believe that Ukraine can win the war and secure its interests through military means,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
“This is the deepest delusion indulged in by the Kyiv regime. The situation on the front indicates the opposite,” he said in a briefing call with reporters.
Peskov, the Kremlin’s chief propagandist, said the war would only end “when Russia achieves the objectives it set at the beginning.”
For his part, in his nightly address, President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Moscow’s forces have failed to make any significant advances on the battlefield, and that Ukraine’s Armed Forces continue to hold their positions firmly along the Pokrovsk sector, in the Dobropillya area, and across the entire front line.
“There were reports on the front line. It is extremely important that the occupier has achieved no significant results. The Pokrovsk sector, the areas of Dobropillya, and the Donetsk region in general – we are defending our positions,” Zelensky said.
He added that Ukrainian forces were holding the line in all other sectors of the front as well, “and this is the most significant result for our state.”
Zelensky went on to bestow honors on fallen soldiers.
“Today, I signed a decree awarding state honors to our warriors: 304 service members of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, 135 of them, sadly, posthumously,” he said.