Name: Russia claims capture of two Ukrainian towns | DW News
Uploaded: 2025-12-28T16:57:26.000Z
Duration: 9 min 52 s
Description: Thousands of YouTube videos with English-Chinese subtitles! Now you can learn to understand native speakers, expand your vocabulary, and improve your pronunciation...

Ahead of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's meeting with President Donald Trump, the Kremlin is claiming new territorial gains in eastern Ukraine.

So Moscow appears to be increasing pressure.

This footage released by the Russian Defense Ministry allegedly shows Russian flags being waved in the Ukrainian town of Myanohrad.

But information from the frontline is difficult to verify.

And while independent experts confirmed the location by matching layouts and road to satellite imagery, the date of the video could not be verified.

Now, if you look at the map, you can see Meir Nohrad is a small town in the Donetsk region.

Russia uses the old Soviet name of the city, Dimitrov.

The other town Moscow claims to have taken is a small town in the Zaporizhzhia region.

The Kremlin released three images allegedly showing Ukrainian military vehicles being hit in Hulyapoglia.

Ukraine rejects all of those claims as, quote, not supported by facts, saying the situation there was difficult, but

that both cities were still being defended.

And for more on this, we can talk to military analyst Marina Mayeron from King's College, London.

Marina, is there any way to verify what's actually happening on the front lines right now?

Well, it's very difficult to verify because the information from both sides is conflicting and there are not a lot of independent mappers who can show footage and geolocate footage.

Also, there is a problem, of course, knowing the exact date when the footage appeared.

That being said, looking at all the information available, it is safe to say that Marinograd is surrounded.

The Ukrainian armed forces are trying to to break out a corridor in the north of Myrnokrad in order to help the troops get out of the city.

Even if it's not completely taken, it doesn't look good for the Ukrainian armed forces.

Myrnograd, again, is a city which is east to Pokrovsk, being a very important logistical hub for the Ukrainian armed forces.

And now that the Russians have almost taken control of Pokrovsk, of course Myrna remains an important stronghold.

And it's important for the Russians to take Murnagrad in order to avoid a potential attack direction.

Pokrovsk and another one in Zaporizhzhia Hulai Pole, as you mentioned.

Again, possibly not completely taken, but

very close to being taken by the Russian armed forces, judging by the footage.

However, of course the Ukrainian side doesn't confirm this.

And in light of the political developments and the meeting was between President Trump and President Zelensky, it wouldn't be favorable for Ukraine to confirm Russian advances there.

And what effect will Russian successes on the battlefield have on the upcoming talks between Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky in Florida?

That's an interesting question because it depends on how President Zelensky uses this to convince President Trump.

He could say, for instance, that, you see, the Russian forces are advancing, we need more aid, and

The Europeans have already approved 90 billion in aid.

Therefore, we need your military equipment and so on and so forth.

A weakness, could be used as a strength in the negotiating position.

But of course, from the other perspective, President Trump could say, you have no chance to win and you have to accept whatever conditions are dictated upon you.

it all depends on the diplomacy and how this is being presented by the Ukrainian side to the American side.

But objectively speaking, of course, it strengthens the Russian position.

And that is a reason why the Russian Ministry of Defense was very quick to say that both Marinocrat and Gulaipoli have been taken by the Russian armed forces to demonstrate again that the Russians will continue the war and will achieve their political aims by military means if no peace agreement is reached.

Military analyst Marina Miron from King's College, London, thank you very much.

Moscow has repeatedly insisted that Ukraine give up all of the Donbas region, even areas still under Kyiv's control.

Ahead of the upcoming meeting between the Ukrainian leader and the US President in Florida, the Kremlin released a video showing Vladimir Putin in military uniform.

In it, Putin warns that Russia is prepared to escalate the fighting.

Going by what we're seeing along the line of contact and the speed of movement.

Our interest in the offer of the Ukrainian military formations withdrawing from the territories they currently occupy is practically zero for various reasons.

And if Kyiv authorities are not willing to end the matter peacefully, we will achieve all the goals we have in a special military operation by military means.

We can speak now to our DW Russia analyst Konstantin Eggert in Vilnius.

Konstantin, it seems like Putin is not too interested in Zelensky's offer to demilitarize the Donbass.

Well, it's very standard Putin attitudes and practice.

First of all, showing up in military uniform.

Everyone knows he's the commander in chief of the Russian armed forces.

And secondly, essentially ignoring the offer made by Zelenskyy to demilitarize the areas of Donbas which are actually still under the control of the government in Kyiv and essentially saying, we're going to go forward, we are going to continue the war, unless you just surrender it to us.

So that means that essentially from day one of the Trump initiative to arrange some kind of ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine, Putin didn't move from his initial position that all of Donbass, even those parts of it that are not now under Russian control, has to be ceded by Ukraine.

So what I'm hearing from you, I mean, many analysts suggest that Putin actually doesn't want to stop the war.

What do you think is Putin's strategy here?

Well, I'm completely convinced that he doesn't want to stop the war.

His strategy is based on his idea of demographic advantage that Russia has over Ukraine.

And it is indeed Russia's in terms of population.

Russia's bigger than Ukraine nearly four times.

So he also thinks that this administration is not going, American administration, not going to provide Ukraine with decisive help, like, let us say, cruise missiles to push the Russian army back and to inflict serious damage on Russian infrastructure.

So he thinks that he can sit it through and by being just stubborn, grab more and more territory and essentially wear Ukraine down because his ultimate goal remains the same.

It is a change of government in Kyiv and basically turning Ukraine into a Russian protectorate with a pliant government in Kiev.

So even if Zelensky manages to get on the same page and Trump agrees to the updated 20 point plan, you don't believe the US President can convince Moscow to reach any kind of agreement?

The short answer is yes, I'm convinced he will not be able to do that.

The slightly longer answer is that what Zelenskyy is going to achieve, he's going to show Donald Trump that he is a sensible politician who is able to compromise, who is able to work on things in an inventive way, someone who is also backed by European allies.

So that is, I think, a net plus for Zelenskyy.

But as I said, answering your first question, Putin thinks that he is in full control of the situation and can continue the war.

So I do not believe that Trump can convince him.

We already saw them meeting in Anchorage in August and absolutely nothing zero came out of it, apart from this imitation diplomacy that Russian envoys initiated with Steve Witkoff and others.

DW's Russia analyst Konstantin Eggert there, thank you very much.