Moscow’s forces appear to be tightening their grip on Pokrovsk, as fighting continues in the streets of the strategic eastern Ukrainian city, many of which have now been destroyed.
Ukraine’s general staff on Wednesday denied Russian claims that the troops were encircled, citing efforts around Pokrovsk and the nearby town of Myrnohrad.
A day earlier, Ukrainian president Volangymy Zelenskyy, visiting the troops about 12 miles (20km) north of Pokrovsk, thanked them for their service and their defense of the country.
The two sides issued conflicting accounts of the fighting in and around Pokrovsk, but Ukrainian military analysts pointed to several kilometers of Ukracling troops.
Russia has spent more than a year trying to capture Pokrovsk, a key frontline city and logistics hub seen as the Gateway to Donetsk, and has suffered heavy losses in the process.
Home to about 50,000 people before the war, the city is located on an important highway connecting a network of Ukrainian cities in the Donetsk region. Its fall would represent a collapse for Moscow, which would lead Russian forces to the lofty goal of seizing the entire region.
In recent weeks, Russian forces have stepped up their attacks, initially relying on small attack groups before larger troops launch a wider offensive in the city.
DeepState, a Ukrainian project that tracks the frontline using verified open-source imagery, showed on Tuesday that Russian forces had advanced further into Pokrovsk and its outskirts, although much of the area remained shaded gray – indicating it was still contested.
In an evening update, the project added: “The situation remains critical.”
Artem Karyakin, a well-known soldier in the Ukrainian armed forces, wrote to x that Russian troops “are in every district of the city”.
“There is no good news from there; the situation remains tense. While Russian forces are not yet in full control of the city, fighting continues,” he added.
Over the weekend, Ukraine deployed special forces in Pokrovsk in an effort to change the momentum and prevent a possible encirclement. Ukraine’s defense intelligence released footage of Tymur’s special unit, showing a helicopter landing under fire, fierce street fighting, and drone attacks on Russian positions.
However, the audacious operation does not appear to have changed the status quo in Ukraine.
Some Ukrainian and Western commentators have questioned Kyiv’s decision to continue defending Pokrovsk, arguing that it exposes soldiers to the grave danger of a losing battle.
“Ukraine could repeat a costly mistake in Pokrovsk,” wrote Emil Kasteelmi, an analyst at Black-based Black Bird Group, which monitors the war, in X.
“This is a recurring pattern, seen for example in VUHLDARD and Kursk – a reluctance to conduct a controlled, further justifying the defense at the time that the areas that are not taken care of from a threatening retreat in areas that are not corrected later hiding at the end of the standoffs.
Ukrainska Pravda, Ukraine’s leading independent outlet, was criticized The country’s military command for mistakes made in Pokrovsk and reported that some brigades misled superiors about their forward positions.
Even without the worries, the Ukrainian army is fighting a long war, worn by the same pressures that force the retreats of men and the constant obstruction of people who cut the lines of drones.
Moscow has also recently acquired a new battlefield advantage, the deployment of gle-powered gliders
KYIV will hope that the final fall of Pokrovsk did not provide Moscowk with a springboard for a renewed push into the region of KRAMATORSK and Sloviansk, which Russia has long desired.
While Russian forces continue to advance, their progress remains slow and costly, raising questions about whether it is viable to push further.
At the same time, Ukrainian forces were deployed in other parts of the front.
Russian troops have entered Kupiansc, a strategically important town in the northern Kharkiv region, which Moscow claims is surrounded. Ukraine has denied the claims, with Zelenskyy saying last week that Ukrainian units were working to eliminate about 60 Russian soldiers in the city.
The deteriorating situation in the East comes as diplomatic contacts between Russia and the US over the Ukraine War appear to be at a standstill.
Speaking last week after a meeting with Xi Jinping in South Korea, Donald Trump indicated a more hands-off approach, “
Last month, his administration imposed tough sanctions on Russia’s two biggest oil producers, measures that appear to have hit the country’s energy revenues.
At the same time, however, the US president continues to withhold longer-range weapons, including Tomahawk missiles, from Ukraine.