Ukraine denies Russian occupation of Klynove in Donetsk Oblast
The Ukrainian military on Dec. 1 denied Moscow's claim that its forces occupied the front-line village of Klynove in Donetsk Oblast.
Klynove remains under Ukrainian control, Ukraine's 11th Army Corps announced in a statement refuting Russia's claim.
The Russian Defense Ministry reported earlier on Dec. 1 that Russian troops had captured Klynove, a front-line settlement south of Kramatorsk. The 11th Army Corps called this "a fake report."
"Such information leaks are part of regular Russian propaganda practices that have been ongoing since the start of the full-scale invasion," the unit said.
The Ukrainian military pointed out that in order to have captured Klynove, Russian troops would have also had to seize the village of Virolyubivka, located to the east of Klynove and directly in the path of the Russian advance.
According to the battlefield monitoring site Deep State, both Klynove and Virolyubivka are under Ukrainian control.
The 11th Army Corps also denied Russian claims that Ukraine had suffered heavy losses of armored vehicles.
"The informational 'victories' that the Russian Defense Ministry announces daily on paper have nothing to do with the real situation on the front lines," the unit said.
Andrii Kovalenko, head of Ukraine's Center for Countering Disinformation, warned that Russian disinformation narratives would kick into overdrive as U.S. officials travel to Moscow to negotiate a plan to end the war.
"Over the next few weeks, the Russians will make many attempts to exert pressure on the front line and accompany this with loud statements — all of this is done exclusively for Western audiences and to raise the stakes in diplomacy," Kovalenko said on Dec. 1.
U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff is planning to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin over the coming days to discuss revisions to a peace plan that originally granted Moscow sweeping territorial concessions and imposed severe restrictions on the Ukrainian army.
