Putin Offers ‘Ceasefire for Journalists’ as He Claims Russian Troops Encircle Pokrovsk

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Moscow is ready to temporarily halt fighting in parts of eastern Ukraine to allow journalists to visit areas where Ukrainian forces are reportedly surrounded.

Speaking on Wednesday from the Central Military Clinical Hospital in Moscow, and accompanied by Defense Minister Andrey Belousov, Putin said Russia could stop combat operations for several hours in the Pokrovsk-Myrnohrad area of the Donetsk region and in Kupyansk of the Kharkiv region.

Putin claimed that both cities are under siege. 

“In two places – in Kupyansk and Krasnoarmiysk [the Kremlin’s name for Pokrovsk] – the enemy has been blocked, in encirclement,” Putin said.

He claimed Russia is willing to let both Ukrainian and foreign media enter those areas.

“We are ready to transport them to specific locations,” he added, saying that Ukraine’s leadership should “make decisions regarding the fate of its citizens who are surrounded.”

Putin also said Russia’s main concern is to avoid so-called “provocations” from the Ukrainian side.

“We are ready to stop hostilities for a few hours – two, three, or six – so that a group of journalists can go in, see what is happening, talk to Ukrainian servicemen, and leave,” he said.

Earlier on Wednesday, Kyiv Post reported that Russian infantry had infiltrated into the key road and logistics hub of Pokrovsk in eastern Ukraine, sparking street battles and threatening to surround Ukrainian forces.

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At least 200 Russian soldiers armed with automatic rifles, machine guns and rockets were reportedly moving through the city’s southern districts, at times ambushing Ukrainian troops who still control central and northern areas.

The information was confirmed by Ukrainian officers speaking to national media and by military and civilian sources monitored by Kyiv Post on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Attack drones, chaotic street fighting, and the presence of civilians still inside the city are complicating Ukrainian efforts to locate and destroy the Russian raiding groups, according to an officer from the 68th Assault Jaeger Brigade deployed in Pokrovsk.

“Yes, very often there are situations when the enemy appears in Pokrovsk where we do not expect him,” said Vyacheslav, a soldier with the call-sign “Lyuty,” whose full name was withheld for security reasons.

He said Russian forces often disguise themselves as civilians, further complicating the situation.

The infiltrating Russian troops are reportedly on foot and without vehicles, having walked up to 15 kilometers (9 miles) through thinly manned Ukrainian lines to reach the city’s southern industrial zone, where they set up positions in buildings.

Sources in Pokrovsk told Kyiv Post that firefights, artillery strikes, and drone overflights were continuing on Wednesday, along with reports of a Russian airstrike hitting a bridge near the city’s rail station.