Denis Pushilin
Russian-installed head of occupied Ukraine's Donetsk region, styled the Donetsk People's Republic, since 2018.
Denis Pushilin has headed Russia's occupation administration in Ukraine's Donetsk region since 2018. On 12 October 2026 he claimed Russian troops were enveloping Sloviansk and Kramatorsk; no Independent source confirmed it.
Last refreshed: 12 October 2026 · Appears in 1 active topic
Is Russia really closing on Sloviansk and Kramatorsk, as Pushilin claims?
Timeline for Denis Pushilin
Claimed Russian troops were enveloping Sloviansk-Kramatorsk
Russia-Ukraine War 2026: DeepState triples count of Russian gainsBackground
Denis Pushilin has headed the Russian-installed administration in occupied Donetsk region, which Moscow calls the Donetsk People's Republic, since 2018. On 12 October 2026 he claimed that Russian forces were closing around Sloviansk and Kramatorsk from more than one side, a claim no independent source backed.
Moscow chose him as interim head of the self-declared republic in September 2018, after the killing of Alexander Zakharchenko. He kept the POST after Russia's claimed annexation of the region in 2022, and Putin formally confirmed him by decree in September 2023.
Sloviansk and Kramatorsk are the largest Ukrainian-held cities left in Donetsk region. Nothing the Ukrainian mapping group DeepState published that month confirmed Pushilin's claim about either city.
Who is Denis Pushilin?
What did Pushilin claim about Sloviansk and Kramatorsk?
