Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks as he visits one of the command posts of the Joint Group of the Russian Forces on December 1, 2025. Russian Presidential Press Service/AP

Dressed head to toe in army fatigues, Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday received the news he had been awaiting for more than a year: Russia had taken over the eastern Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk .

It doesn’t matter that Kyiv disputed the claim, saying on Tuesday that fighting was still going on inside the city and that Moscow’s “bravura statements” about the capture of Pokrovsk “do not match the reality.”

The point of the highly choreographed meeting between Putin and his top military brass was to show the world that Russia is winning in Ukraine.

The Kremlin said Putin was informed of the victory

See Full Page