Inside the corridors of the UN, language has long eclipsed action. So when President Volodymyr Zelensky announced last week that Ukrainian forces have liberated approximately 360 km² in the past month and surrounded 1,000 Russian soldiers for possible prisoner exchanges, one should take note.

These figures, as a matter of fact, are not earth-shattering in scale compared with the 1,548 km² Russia claimed in its summer drive — but they are revealing of how Kyiv now fashions its narrative.

One may recall that Oleksandr Syrskyi (Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine) had earlier reported about 164.5 km² “liberated” and around 180.8 km² cleared in the Dobropillia/Pokrovsk counteroffensive as of September 22, 2025, a claim widely covered by Ukrainian media. The leap from those figures to 360 km² is hardly cinematic — but if real is enough to suggest that Ukraine is inching forward, thus far consolidating some incremental gains.

The 1,000 encircled soldiers have not been captured thus far; their presence under siege does offer bargaining chips for prisoner swaps, something Ukraine has pursued through August and September exchanges. That is not negligible, but it is here that Zelensky’s rhetoric perhaps intersects with shifting winds in US politics.

After meeting Zelensky on September 23, 2025, US President Donald Trump publicly dubbed Russia a “paper tiger,” and expressed confidence that Ukraine could “reclaim” all the disputed territory — a stark departure from his prior posture of territorial concessions. That rhetorical pivot, blunt and politically charged as it........

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