Stalemate? Zelensky In Denial As Russian Troops Press In On Pokrovsk

As fighting has intensified in the eastern city of Pokrovsk, and with Russian troops having already penetrated some districts of the key logistical hub in the Donbass region, President Volodymyr Zelensky appears to be in denial.

On Monday he issued a statement on X claiming that Putin and his forces are at a “stalemate” and that the Russian president is more unpopular within his own country than ever. And yet even Western pundits consider that the writing is on the wall when it comes to Ukrainians seeking to hold on to Pokrovsk.

“Putin is in an impasse when it comes to real successes on the battlefield. The situation looks more like a stalemate for him,” Zelensky wrote. He went on to say, “First, he has radicalized public opinion toward this issue through information. Second, he promised objectives he has not achieved, so he needs to show some gains.”

But Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has responded by saying that while Russia wants Ukraine conflict to end as soon as possible, it is only the prospect of peace negotiations which have stalled, and that the situation “stalled not because of us.”

Meanwhile the Amsterdam-based Moscow Times paints a dire picture for the Ukrainian side: “Western military analysts say Russian troops have steadily edged into Pokrovsk’s southern outskirts, wearing down Ukrainian defenses and using worsening late-autumn weather to move men and equipment closer to the front,” the report says. “The fight, they note, has settled into a grinding contest of attrition that has stretched Ukrainian units thin.”

One Ukrainian soldier in fresh statement described that “The main problem is logistics” as “The roads are completely choked by Russian drones. No vehicle can enter or leave the city without being immediately detected.”

The man told The Moscow Times, “They send about ten armored vehicles at once toward our positions” and that “Normally, we can destroy them quickly, but with the fog, rain and low winter clouds, our reaction time is slower. We destroy most of them, but some still manage to break through and drop off troops inside the city.”

While Zelensky is trying to offer Pokrovsk as a symbol of Ukrainian resistance, the reality is that it is being encircled. Kiev officials have over several weeks sought to deny this.

For the majority of the war Pokrovsk has acted as the logistical hub and rear operations base for Ukraine’s eastern defensive lines. It sits astride both a key railroad juncture and the highway to Ukraine’s fourth-largest metro, Dnipro.

Another urgent appeal for the Western allies to “close the skies” over Ukraine:

We’ve been talking about closing the sky since day one of this war. We understand that it’s our vulnerability. And we realize that Putin had a huge number of missiles, while we had very few air‑defense systems and only a small remaining stock of Soviet‑era missiles. These systems…

— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) November 10, 2025

The loss of the primary rail lines and highway routes in and out of Pokrovsk would cut resources to Ukrainian units across the Donbas and possibly force them to retreat before running out of supplies. This would mean an immediate and sweeping Russian advance all along the eastern lines. 

The city’s defensive positions are a final obstacle to Russia’s access to most of the region. If Pokrovsk falls Russian forces will indeed be able to more easily flank entrenched troops in the north and south of the country.