As Moscow Signals Actively Discussing Ukraine settlement With US, Russian Forces Close In On Pokrovsk

US President Donald Trump has claimed to have solved several wars in just a few months, however, there is one conflict that he has been unable to sort out yet – the Russia-Ukraine war, that has been going on for over three years now, with Moscow claiming several villages in Ukraine.

The Russian army on Sunday (November 16, 2025) again claimed to have captured two more villages in southern Ukraine, where its troops are slowly gaining ground against outnumbered Ukrainian forces. On Telegram, it said the troops had taken Rivnopillia and Mala Tokmachka in the Zaporizhzhia region.

Even as the war lingers on, it has emerged that Russia is actively in contact with the United States to revive discussions on a possible settlement to the Ukraine conflict, even as its forces make rapid advances on the battlefield. A top Kremlin official said on Sunday that the conclusions reached during the August 15, 2025 Alaska summit between Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump have been communicated to Kyiv, though Ukraine has rejected the proposed framework.

Kremlin foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov told state broadcaster Rossiya-1 that Moscow continues to view the “Anchorage understanding” as the most viable basis for a political settlement. “We are actively discussing a Ukrainian settlement based on the understandings reached in Anchorage… Kyiv is aware of it. They do not like it,” Ushakov said, adding that “many Europeans” were also resistant.

According to earlier leaks in Western media, the Anchorage draft proposal allegedly involved US recognition of Crimea as Russian territory, and a Ukrainian withdrawal from Russian-controlled areas of Donbas. Washington has not confirmed these details, though Ushakov said the US has never formally stated that the Anchorage points were void.

How is the battlefield shaping the political status?

While Moscow promotes the Anchorage framework, the military situation is rapidly shifting in Russia’s favour, especially around the eastern Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk, where analysts say Ukraine is under severe pressure. Data from the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) suggests that Russia has encircled nearly three-quarters of Pokrovsk and is prioritising its capture over broader operations in the region.

Ukrainian assessments indicate that 300–500 Russian soldiers have already entered the outskirts of the city, aided by heavy fog, low cloud cover, and degraded Ukrainian drone visibility.

Ukrainian President Zelensky recently warned that Russia now outnumbers Ukrainian forces eight to one in the area.

Why is Pokrovsk strategically and symbolically crucial?

Pokrovsk, once a key logistics hub for Ukraine, sits at the intersection of seven major roads connecting Donetsk, Kostyantynivka, Dnipro, and Zaporizhzhia. Before the war, it had a population of nearly 60,000; Ukrainian officials now say only about 1,000 remain. George Barros, head of Russia and Geospatial Intelligence at ISW, told CNN that the city once served as a crucial supply node:

“It supported the Ukrainian logistics, which then fanned out to smaller tactical positions around the region.”

Although Russia has already disrupted many of these routes through sustained drone and artillery strikes, Pokrovsk remains politically invaluable for the Kremlin. Putin has repeatedly cited its capture in public speeches, framing the advance as proof of Russia’s inevitable victory.

If Moscow takes the city, it would be the largest population centre seized since early in the war.

With Russian troops advancing under improved weather conditions and Ukrainian units reporting critical shortages in drones and manpower, the battlefield situation seems far from any path back to negotiation. Ukrainian commanders say Russia is sending multiple small assault groups, “about a hundred per day”.

Meanwhile, peace talks between Kyiv and Moscow are currently deadlocked, and a planned Budapest summit between US President Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin did not go ahead.