Russia announces the conquest of Kupiansk, but Ukraine denies it

MoscowVladimir Putin dressed in military attire to hear from his chief of staff, Valery Gerasimov, the news that the Russian army had conquered the city of Kupiansk, a railway hub in the Kharkiv region. key to supplying the front and to advancing towards Donetsk from the northUkrainian forces have been quick to deny this, categorically denying that Russia controls the municipality. Be that as it may, the Russian president is trying to demonstrate to Donald Trump that he has the upper hand in the war at a time when the United States They are seeking to negotiate a peace agreement with Volodymyr Zelensky

From a command position of the Zapad group, which is fighting in eastern Ukraine, Putin has been informed that Russian troops control 70% of Pokrovsk, one of the Ukrainian defensive strongholds in the Donbas and where Moscow has been trying for weeks to surround Ukrainian soldiers.Also in this region, some 50 kilometers to the northeast, the Kremlin leader himself has stated that the Russian army is already fighting within the town of Konstantinivka, on the way to the last two major cities of Donetsk under Kyiv's control: Kramatorsk and Sloviansk.

Just as he did at the end of October, when he announced the imminent fall of Kupyansk and Pokrovsk, Putin has insisted on offering Ukrainian soldiers the possibility of surrendering and has blamed his generals for not allowing it. The scene is reminiscent of the Russian president's visit to a command post in Kursk in March, when he asserted that 2,000 Ukrainian soldiers were about to be trapped in that Russian region, information that Kyiv denied. But the statement shocked Trump, who asked Putin for clemency for those men.

Furthermore, Putin is aware that Zelensky's political situation is delicate, immersed in the controversy surrounding a corruption case in his entourageThat is why he wanted to draw blood and called the Ukrainian government a "criminal group" that has "usurped power" and that, "under the pretext of continuing the war with Russia, is clinging on to enrich itself personally." He added: "It is obvious that these people, sitting on golden tongs, hardly think about the fate of their country and, above all, of the rank-and-file soldiers."

Now the Russian leader is pursuing a similar objective to the one in March: knowing that a Zelenskyy in dire straits has already received the peace plan drawn up by emissaries from the Kremlin and the White House, he is trying to impress the US president and make it clear that if he does not force Ukraine to accept an agreement, Russia will... "We have our tasks, the most important of which is the unconditional achievement of the objective of the special military operation," he noted.

A peace plan tailor-made for Russia

The objectives of the special military operation—that is, the invasion of Ukraine—imply the surrender of the neighboring country. According to the leaked peace plan, Russia would be willing to relinquish, at least partially, the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions in exchange for control of the entire Donbas. However, statements like Putin's suggest that it is unlikely the Kremlin will cede these territories, which have already been enshrined in the Constitution. This is one of the few concessions Moscow would accept as a starting point, according to documents published by the media. The proposal also stipulates that all of Crimea, Donetsk, and Luhansk be recognized as Russian regions, that Ukraine not join NATO, that no foreign peacekeepers be deployed, that the Ukrainian army be significantly reduced, and that elections be held in Kyiv. In short, a roadmap that closely resembles the memorandum presented by Russian negotiators in Istanbul last spring, which the Ukrainian side then deemed unacceptable.

In fact, at this point, it's not even clear that, despite the plan having been agreed upon by Russian and American envoys, the White House fully endorses it. According to theThe Wall Street JournalThe United States has not yet decided on any specific plan and will continue to consult with the warring parties.