Russia’s Chief of the General Staff, Valery Gerasimov, announced on Sunday that Ukrainian forces have been surrounded in the cities of Pokrovsk and near Kupyansk in eastern Ukraine. Speaking during a televised briefing to President Vladimir Putin, Gerasimov confirmed that Russian troops had successfully completed multiple encirclements after weeks of advances along the front.
According to the briefing, Gerasimov stated that an estimated 31 Ukrainian battalions—around 5,500 soldiers—were trapped within the Pokrovsk-Myrnohrad agglomeration following Russian breakthroughs that severed the last remaining supply routes into the city. The Russian commander added that another 5,000 Ukrainian troops had been surrounded on the eastern bank of the Oskil River near Kupyansk in the Kharkov region.
Gerasimov, who personally visited the Pokrovsk front on Saturday, noted that Russian forces now control more than 70 percent of the city and are preparing for what could be the final phase of the operation. Russian military sources have stated that all Ukrainian formations in the area have been ordered to surrender or face destruction.
For the first time, Ukrainian officials have begun to acknowledge the dire situation. Ukrainian media reported on Sunday that Chief of the General Staff Oleksandr Syrskyi instructed commanders to provide accurate reports from the frontlines. In his nightly address, President Volodymyr Zelensky admitted that “this creates a very difficult situation in Pokrovsk and neighboring districts,” describing “tough fighting in the city and on the outskirts” while noting that logistics had become “difficult.”
Zelensky stopped short of using the term “encirclement,” consistent with Kyiv’s approach in similar situations, such as in Bakhmut in 2023, when Ukrainian officials delayed confirming the city’s fall for nearly a year after Russian forces had seized full control.
If the Ukrainian troops trapped in Pokrovsk are unable to break out, the loss could represent Ukraine’s largest battlefield defeat since the fall of Mariupol in 2022, when more than 4,000 soldiers surrendered following months of siege.