Category: general

Putin claims Russian troops have surrounded 2 Ukrainian cities but Ukraine says that’s not true

Russian President Vladimir Putin is claiming that Ukrainian forces are surrounded by the Russian army in two key eastern cities and is offering to negotiate a deal for their surrender. Ukrainian military officials vigorously denied the claim. Putin claimed Wednesday that Ukrainian troops are encircled in Pokrovsk, a key Ukrainian stronghold in the eastern Donetsk region, and in Kupiansk, an important rail junction in the northeastern Kharkiv region. The Ukrainian armed forces dismissed the claim while acknowledging that intense fighting is taking place. Russian officials have in the past made claims about capturing Ukrainian strongholds that have turned out not to be true. Independent verification of the claims was not possible.