The activity of Russian troops around the city of Pokrovsk in the Donetsk region is intensifying, warned the head of the Ukrainian army Oleksandr Sîrski, admitting that “the situation is difficult” on this front, but that many of the claims of the Russian side are just propaganda that does not correspond to reality. Sirski visited the commanders of the brigades fighting in the area, according to the BBC and Ukrainian media.
In Pokrovsk, the enemy infantry, avoiding direct engagements, gather in the urban area and change their locations, so the main objective is to identify and destroy them,” Sîrki said in a statement on Telegram on Thursday
“The situation is difficult, but the claims of Russian propaganda about an alleged “blockade” on Ukrainian defense forces in Pokrovsk and Kupiansk are not true”he specified, stressing that “a reasonable balance between objectives and capabilities” must be maintained, and “the priority is to protect the lives of our soldiers.”
Sârski announced that he had made a visit to this front.
“The enemy is increasingly active in the Pokrovsk-Marnohrad area. So I made a new visit to this important front. I met with the commanders of the army corps, military units and subunits that are stopping the attack of the numerically superior enemy. I listened to reports about the current situation, about their needs and heard their suggestions.” he wrote on Facebook.
The head of the Russian General Staff, General Valery Gerasimov, claimed the other day that the Ukrainian troops in Pokrovsk are surrounded.
Deepstate, a Ukrainian open source analysis group wrote that Russian forces are “gradually engulfing” Pokrovsk, “with their huge number of soldiers”.
According to Ukrainian military estimates, the force ratio in the area is eight to one.
In its latest update, defense intelligence group Sybelline wrote that the battle for Pokrovsk “has entered a highly dynamic and intense phase as Russian forces intensify their efforts to infiltrate the city and encircle the Ukrainian defenders.”
The situation in Pokrovsk
The defense of the city of Donetsk region, an important logistical hub that has been holding out for more than a year in one of the hottest parts of the front, appears to be crumbling after hundreds of Russian soldiers entered the city, spreading in all directions, the Kyiv Independent writes.
According to the Ukrainian military, 11,000 Russian troops have been concentrated around Pokrovsk in an attempt to encircle it.
In a potentially grim development, Russian forces planted the Russian flag on the city's western outskirts on October 29, although the move is more of an intelligence operation than a solid indicator of territorial control.
At the end of July, several dozen Russian soldiers entered the southern districts of the city, taking advantage of the insufficiently defended Ukrainian lines due to the small number of troops.
At the time, the infiltration was already a serious threat to the city's defenses, after which, thanks to the rapid redeployment of specialized assault units, the Russian troops were isolated and eliminated before they penetrated deeper.
On October 19, Ukrainian civilians were shot dead near Pokrovsk railway station – a few kilometers behind the front line, an indication that another major infiltration was taking place.
On October 27, the Ukrainian General Staff of Ukraine admitted that “about 200” Russian soldiers had massed in the city.
“They don't control the city, they don't control any neighborhood entirely, they move chaotically, they carry out sabotage and reconnaissance operations, including ambushes”said Roman Pohorili, co-founder of Deep State.
According to the Deep State map, there is a corridor approximately three kilometers wide between the two Russian pincers, but these markings are based only on geolocations of the isolated Russian presence and do not reflect territorial control.
A more serious threat to the neighboring city
While Pokrovsk has turned into a vast and chaotic gray area, the real threat of encirclement looms over the neighboring town of Mîrnohrad, which lies to the east of Pokrovsk, deeper inside the Russian pocket.
Here, Ukrainian forces, led by the 25th Airborne and 38th Marine Infantry Brigades, maintained a relatively stable defense against Pokrovsk, aided by favorable terrain and the effective use of drones.
In a Deep State Telegram post on October 29, the group claimed that Russian forces had cut logistics lines to Mîrnohrad and Ukrainian positions there.
For now, said the deputy commander of a Ukrainian unit holding positions in the city, the greater danger to his troops is not encirclement on the ground, but control of logistics routes to Mîrnohrad by Russian drones and artillery.
“Pokrovsk is indeed giving us trouble, but we've basically been in a de facto encirclement for three months and there are still routes to further defend the city of Mîrnohrad.”
Unlike the infiltration in July, which was small-scale, a similar approach will not work now, according to Pohorili.
“The fact that we managed to clear a certain area does not change the general situation”he said, “because the main problem is not solved: the southern part of the city, where they infiltrate in the first place, is not sealed.”
