New Delhi, Nov. 29 -- Russian forces tighten noose around strategic Donetsk hub amid fierce Ukrainian resistance near Huliaipole, while peace talks loom under Trump shadow.

In the grinding theater of eastern Ukraine, where the earth churns under the weight of artillery and ambition, Russian President Vladimir Putin declared on Friday that his forces had encircled the strategic city of Pokrovsk, a claim that Kyiv swiftly contested as Ukrainian troops mounted fierce resistance elsewhere along the front. The announcement, delivered with characteristic defiance amid reports of a potential US-brokered peace framework under President Donald Trump, underscored the precarious balance between battlefield momentum and diplomatic maneuvering as the...