The Ukrainian military has denied Moscow’s claims that it captured two settlements near Lyman in the Donetsk region.
On Nov. 21, Russia’s defense ministry claimed to have captured Stavky and Novoselivka, two villages north of the Ukrainian stronghold of Lyman in the Donetsk region.
Ukraine’s Third Army Corps disputed the statement on Dec. 1, calling the statements from Russia’s 20th Army and the Russian defense ministry “another information manipulation.”
The Third Army Corps said Russian units continue relying on “old tactics,” sending small groups into areas not under Moscow’s control to film staged videos with Russian flags and falsely claim the settlements have been captured.
However, all such groups are being eliminated by Ukrainian forces, the Corps said. It also said commanders of Russia’s 20th Army are “[continuing] to report fictional achievements to appease their superiors.”
Russian forces had intensified their offensive in the Lyman sector in November, using large infantry groups and armored vehicles in attempts to break through Ukrainian defenses, enter the city, and reach the railway station.
In its Monday morning update, Ukraine’s General Staff said Russian forces launched 11 assaults in the Lyman sector over the past 24 hours, attempting to push into Ukrainian positions near Tverdokhlibove, Novoyehorivka, Torske, Novoselivka, Zarichne, and toward Cherneshchyna and Korovyny Yar.
However, in an update published at 4:25 p.m., Ukraine’s General Staff said fighting in the sector was ongoing.
“In the Lyman direction today, the enemy launched 16 attacks near the settlements of Druzhelyubivka, Tverdokhlibovka, Karpivka, Seredne, Shandryholovka, Novoselivka, Drobysheve, Stavky, and Zarichne. Three combat engagements are currently ongoing,” it wrote.
Dmytro Rogoziuk, commander of Ukraine’s 60th Separate Mechanized Brigade, said Kyiv forces are holding the line and rejected Russia’s capture claims.
“The 60th Separate Mechanized Inhulets Brigade, together with adjacent units, continues to firmly hold the line in the Donetsk region. There are no grounds to declare the ‘capture’ of Stavky or Novoselivka,” he said.
Russia’s intensifying Donbas offensive
Russia made its largest territorial gains in Ukraine in a year this November, according to an AFP analysis of data from the US-based Institute for the Study of War (ISW).
Over the month, Russian forces seized 701 square kilometers (270 square miles) of Ukrainian land – the second-biggest monthly advance of the entire war, surpassed only by November 2024. This excludes the early phase of the invasion, when the front line was rapidly shifting.
By the end of November, Russia controlled 19.3 percent of Ukraine’s territory, either fully or partially, according to ISW data. Before the full-scale invasion in February 2022, Russia held roughly 7 percent of Ukraine, which included occupied Crimea and parts of the Donbas.
Since the start of 2025, Russia has captured nearly 5,400 square kilometers (2,085 square miles) of Ukrainian land – almost 2,000 square kilometers (772 square miles) more than in the same period the previous year.
Despite the overall increase, Russian advances slowed in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk region, the focal point of intense fighting. In November, Moscow gained around 130 square kilometers (50 square miles) there, roughly half the average monthly gain seen earlier in the year.
Russia now controls over 81 percent of the Donetsk region and is pushing toward Pokrovsk, a key logistics hub whose fall would severely undermine Ukrainian defenses.
Russia’s largest gains in November came in the southern Zaporizhzhia region, where troops advanced 272 square kilometers (105 square miles) – equal to the gains over the previous four months combined. In the neighboring Dnipropetrovsk region, Russian forces captured nearly 200 square kilometers (77 square miles).
Last week, Russian President Vladimir Putin again insisted that any peace deal would require Ukraine to cede territory, including areas Moscow does not currently occupy.