While Donald Trump urges Volodymyr Zelensky to fold and European leaders dash to Washington, Ukraine claims Russia’s latest trick – suicidal ‘fakery’ missions – could seal its fate. Vladimir Putin reportedly told the US president during the Alaska summit Friday that Ukrainian frontlines in Donetsk were on the verge of collapse, however, in a phone call which followed, Zelensky urged Trump not to believe the Russian tyrant and said Ukraine was in no such danger.
It comes after Russia has staged fake videos of troops gaining territory in Ukraine in a bid to fool Trump at the negotiating table as EU leaders including UK’s Keir Starmer and France’s Emmanuel Macron reveal they will join Zelensky at the White House in a meeting with the US President on Monday.
According to Ukrainian intelligence, Russian commanders are forcing troops to risk their lives in suicidal flag-painting missions, sending small groups to the frontline villages simply to raise the Russian tri-colour while drones film the spectacle. The footage is then paraded on Kremlin television as evidence of Moscow’s unstoppable advance in the Donetsk region – even though the villages remain firmly under Ukrainian control.
But the cost is devastating. Many of the men sent out on these staged missions never come back as they are shot dead or captured as they try to escape.
‘Russian propaganda is actively using a new tactic of spreading disinformation – staged ‘captures’ of settlements – to create the illusion of success on the front,’ said Ukraine’s GUR military intelligence.
In one humiliating episode in the village of Iskra, also known as Andriyivka-Klevtsove, two Russian ‘flag wavers’ were cut down by Ukrainian fire. Two more were captured alive. Russian President, Vladimir Putin, is desperate to claim all of Donetsk in return for a peace deal – one which Trump is thought to favour.
A GUR statement said: ‘A similar group of ‘standard bearers’ in the village of Zelenyi Hai was recently liquidated by fighters of the Bratstvo unit as part of the Timur Special Unit.’
In advance of the Anchorage summit, Moscow’s army pounded away at Ukraine’s industrial heartland, attempting to seize the flashpoint town of Pokrovsk, a key highway and rail junction in eastern Donetsk, after repeated attempts to breach its defensive line during the week.
As Putin and Trump prepared to meet, battlefield analysis site DeepState said that Pokrovsk was partially encircled. In recent days, Russian forces had reportedly seized the village of Yablunivka and the settlement of Oleksandrohrad – both in Donetsk.
It comes as a number of European leader have rallied together to reveal they will be joining Zelensky at a White House meeting with Trump following Friday’s failed summit where Trump and Putin were unable to reach a deal on ending the Ukraine war.
Yesterday, Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform: ‘The best way to end the horrific war between Russia and Ukraine is to go directly to a Peace Agreement, which would end the war, and not a mere Ceasefire Agreement, which often times do not hold up.
And in an interview with Fox News, Trump signalled that he and Putin had discussed land transfers and security guarantees for Ukraine, and had ‘largely agreed’. ‘I think we’re pretty close to a deal,’ he said, adding: ‘Ukraine has to agree to it. Maybe they’ll say ‘no’.’
Meanwhile, Zelensky is expected to meet von der Leyen in Brussels shortly – around 14:00 local time (13:00 BST) – ahead of a virtual meeting with a number of European leaders.
