Evidence

Searches on the Pokrovsk/Myrnohrad front (the main 'encirclement' story circulating about the Russia-Ukraine war in late 2025) found multiple independent outlets pushing back on Russian claims of encirclement. The Moscow Times reported that after Russian Chief of General Staff Gerasimov claimed Pokrovsk and Kupiansk were encircled, 'military experts and pro-war bloggers' themselves cast doubt on the claim. The Kyiv Independent reported Ukraine's military explicitly denying that Pokrovsk and Myrnohrad were encircled, saying Ukrainian troops retained control of parts of the cities. Ukrinform ran an analysis headlined that there was 'no encirclement' and that Ukraine's defense was holding. Meduza's military analysts described an ongoing 'threat' of encirclement rather than a completed one. The Institute for the Study of War (ISW), cited via a Yahoo/TWZ reprint, described Russian forces as still 'attempting to encircle the city' from the northeast rather than having achieved it, consistent with contested, incomplete Russian gains. No formal fact-check verdict specifically on this phrasing was found from Reuters Fact Check, AFP Fact Check, Bellingcat, or EUvsDisinfo.