Russia announced its acquisition of a series of strategic urban areas in Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia

“Units of the Central Army acted decisively, capturing the towns of Dimitrov, Rodinskoye, Artyomovka and Volnoye in Donetsk province,” the Russian Ministry of Defense announced today.

Dimitrov is how Russia calls the city of Mirnograd, neighboring Pokrovsk.

The Russian army also announced that the Eastern army is continuing to advance deep into the Ukrainian line and has completed control of the city of Huliaipole in Zaporizhzhia province, while the Dnieper army has captured the Stepnogorsk residential area also in this province.

President Putin today evaluated the Russian army’s control of Mirnograd and Huliaipole as an important result in the campaign. “Huliaipole is the second largest city in Zaporizhzhia province, gaining this municipality offers good prospects for expanding operations in the region,” he said.

In a report on the same day, the General Staff of the Ukrainian Army announced that it had prevented 32 Russian attacks on the Pokrovsk front and 19 attacks in the Huliaipole area, but did not mention the Stepnogorsk situation.

AMK Mapping, an X account specializing in tracking open source intelligence data about the war in Ukraine, also made comments similar to the announcement of the Russian Ministry of Defense. “The Mirnograd offensive campaign lasted 2 months and 7 days, while Huliaipole fell after only 32 days,” this account said.

Mirnograd has an area of ​​about 23 square kilometers, and is a city closely linked to Pokrovsk. The two cities form an urban cluster in the west of Donetsk province, of which Pokrovsk is an important logistics center and plays a fundamental role in Ukraine’s defense system in this province.

Ukrainian experts have warned that the collapse of the defense line in one of the two cities will lead to a chain effect, causing the remaining city to be completely surrounded and fall quickly.

The Russian army on December 1 announced complete control of Pokrovsk and closed the siege around Mirnograd, marking Moscow’s first comprehensive siege since the Battle of Mariupol in 2022.

Huliaipole is an important Ukrainian logistics center in Zaporizhzhia Oblast and is located at the intersection of Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporizhzhia and Donetsk regions. Maintaining this stronghold helps Ukraine block Russia’s advance westward, and at the same time causes the enemy to encounter many difficulties in its efforts to link the offensive in Donetsk province with Zaporizhzhia.

The Huliaipole Front had been one of the most stable areas on the front line for much of the conflict, but was quickly besieged following Russia’s recent rapid advances in eastern Zaporizhzhia province. Some experts have warned of the risk of Ukraine breaching its defense lines and facing a strategic disaster if it loses Huliaipole.

Ukrainian commanders at several fronts in Zaporizhzhia also admitted they no longer had the personnel to hold their positions.

The announcement was made by the Russian Ministry of Defense shortly before Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky met US President Donald Trump in Florida to discuss efforts to end hostilities. The meeting was held after the US and Ukraine reached an agreement on a draft 20-point peace plan after the latest round of negotiations.

The draft announced by Mr. Zelensky on December 23 covers many issues, from post-conflict territorial arrangements to security commitments that Kiev wants to receive, as well as plans to rebuild Ukraine.

Kiev won some concessions in the new proposal, such as freezing the front line and not being asked to give up its ambition to join NATO. However, Ukraine’s leaders admitted there are still disagreements with the US over territorial issues and management of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on December 27 that new attacks are putting pressure on the Ukrainian army. “If Ukraine does not want to resolve this issue peacefully, we will handle all immediate problems by military means,” he said.