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Russia has made fresh gains in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region as President Volodymyr Zelenskyy travelled to the US to discuss plans to end the war.
Moscow’s forces captured the town of Ukrainsk near the logistical hub of Pokrovsk, the Russian-installed Donetsk governor Denis Pushilin said on Tuesday. A map compiled by Ukrainian group DeepState, which has ties to Ukraine’s defence ministry and monitors the battlefield, on Wednesday confirmed the advance as well as further territorial gains in the region.
Russian forces also made gains and looked closer to encircling Vulhedar and Kurakove, two towns further south in that same area, according to DeepState. If the two towns fell it would allow Moscow’s forces to encircle and take Pokrovsk, severing Ukraine’s main supply line to the region.
Russia’s recent advances in the area have been aided by Ukraine’s manpower and weapons deficits. Kyiv’s own surprise incursion into Russia’s southern Kursk region last month has so far failed to trigger a Russian redeployment from Donetsk, with Moscow redirecting troops from other areas to defend its own territory.
Ukrainian forces have claimed some gains in the northern border area of Kharkiv region, where the Russians occupied land in May.
Zelenskyy is set to meet US President Joe Biden on Thursday and present him with a four-point “Victory Plan” that the Ukrainian leader says will force Russia to the negotiating table.
The exact details of the plan have not been made public, but the head of the Ukrainian presidential administration, Andriy Yermak, said on Tuesday that it included an invitation for Ukraine to join Nato.
Kyiv applied for membership of the US-led military alliance soon after Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022, but Nato has so far refused to commit to a specific timeline. Nato membership would mean that a further Russian attack on Ukraine would be considered an attack on the entire alliance — a prospect many allies are wary of.
Zelenskyy said last week that the plan also included US security guarantees for Ukraine, the delivery of more advanced weapons and the use of Kursk as a bargaining chip in negotiations with Russia. The Ukrainian president wants the plan to be implemented before Biden leaves office early next year, in case of a Republican victory in the US presidential elections in November.
It is unclear whether Zelenskyy and Republican candidate Donald Trump will meet while the Ukrainian leader is in the US. On Tuesday, Trump described Zelenskyy as “the greatest salesman in history” after repeatedly vowing on the campaign trail to end the war “in a day”, suggesting a capitulation on Moscow’s terms.
During his address to the UN in New York on Tuesday, Zelenskyy said Russia needed to be “forced into peace”, ruling out the option of a frozen conflict in eastern Ukraine — which he said would only lead to a second and worse invasion.