General Valery Gerasimov, Chief of the General Staff, informed Putin about the liberation of the mentioned cities and the progress of offensive operations in other directions, as stated in the official release. The message also emphasizes that Putin gave instructions to ensure the troops have the necessary resources for conducting military operations during the winter period.
The Russian Ministry of Defense published a video showing Russian soldiers raising a flag in the central square of Pokrovsk.
Meanwhile, Ukraine has not officially confirmed this information. On the maps of OSINT projects, such as the Ukrainian DeepState and the Finnish Black Bird Group, Volchansk and Pokrovsk are still not considered fully captured by Russian troops.
DeepState authors reported on December 1 that Russian troops continue to move through Pokrovsk and its suburbs, trying to establish control over this territory.
At the same time, on December 1, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky stated that heavy fighting is taking place in the Pokrovsk area and in the Kupiansk direction. He also noted that at the end of November, Putin was informed about the complete capture of Kupiansk, but this information was denied by the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
Ukrainian army servicemen, commenting on the statements of the Russian Ministry of Defense regarding "successes" and the "liberation" of settlements in the Donetsk region, emphasized that such statements are part of Russian propaganda, which has been actively used since the beginning of the full-scale invasion.
“The informational 'victories' that the Russian Ministry of Defense announces daily do not correspond to the real situation on the front,” the Armed Forces of Ukraine emphasized.
