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Russian armies have advanced to the east Ukrainian City of Pokrovsk Russian Defense Ministry Said on Monday.
Pokrovsk is such a city Russia Been trying to capture for over a year.
With an estimated 100,000 Russian troops circling the area, Ukraine’s top military commander, Oleksandr Syrsky, said his forces worked hard to clear the Russian troops.
The following are key facts about Pokrovsk, which the Russians call Soviet-era Krasnoarmeysk, and the long battle for control of it, which began in mid-2024.
What is Pokrovsk?
Pokrovsk is a road and rail hub in the eastern part of Ukraine. Donetsk An area with a pre-war population of approximately 60,000 people. Most people have now fled, all the children have been evacuated and few civilians remain amid its ruined apartment buildings and decaying streets.
Map of Pokrovsk:
Ukraine’s only mine producing coking coal – once used in its vast steel industry – is about six miles (10 km) west of Pokrovsk. Ukrainian steelmaker Metinvest said in January it had suspended mining operations there.
The town lies on a major road that has been used by the Ukrainian military to supply supplies to other besieged outposts.
A technical university in Pokrovsk, the largest and oldest in the region, is now abandoned, damaged by shelling.
Why does Russia want Pokrovsk?
Russia wants to annex the entire Donbass region, including Luhansk and Donetsk provinces. Ukraine still controls about 10% of Donbass – an area of about 5,000 square km (1,930 sq mi) in western Donetsk.
The capture of Pokrovsk, which Russian media have called “the gateway to Donetsk”, and Kostiantynivka to its north-east, which Russian forces are also trying to encircle. moscow A platform to head north towards the two largest Ukrainian-controlled cities remaining in Donetsk – Kramatorsk and Sloviansk.
It would also give Moscow its most significant single territorial gain inside Ukraine since it captured the ruined city of Avdiivka in early 2024.
Russian President Vladimir Putin Says Donbass is now legally part of Russia. Kiev and most Western countries reject Moscow’s seizure of the territory as an illegal land grab.
Some Western military analysts, such as Rob Lee, a senior fellow at the US-based Foreign Policy Research Institute, say capturing Pokrovsk would give Russia a significant victory, especially if it can do so by the end of the year.
But while important for operational reasons, Lee says capturing Pokrovsk would still leave much work for Russia to do to take control of the rest of Donetsk and the two important fortress cities of Kramatorsk and Sloviansk.
Why did it take so long?
Russia has been threatening Pokrovsk for more than a year. Instead of the full frontal attacks used in previous battles, such as the bloody campaign for the similarly-sized town of Bakhmut, Russian forces are gradually using a pincer movement to encircle Pokrovsk and threaten Ukrainian supply lines.
Russian forces harassed Ukrainian troops by sending small units and drones to disrupt logistics and spread chaos behind them before sending in larger forces.
Ukraine says that its forces have suffered heavy losses due to the Russian attack. Moscow says sparsely populated Ukraine is at risk of running out of men and its own slow-fire strategy is designed to minimize casualties.
Last year, there was an incursion by Ukrainian forces into Russia’s Kursk region, which Moscow responded to, which also slowed the Russian attack on Pokrovsk.
What is happening now?
Ukraine has rushed to consolidate positions in the city.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Sunday, “Fierce fighting is going on in the city and at the entrances to the city… Logistics is difficult. But we must continue to destroy the occupiers.”
Valery Gerasimov, Russia’s top general and chief of the General Staff, told Putin on Sunday that Russia had halted a large number of Ukrainian troops in the area.
DeepState, a Ukrainian project that maps the front line based on verified open source images, shows Russian forces entering the city, although much of it is still in gray, beyond the firm control of either side.
“The situation in Pokrovsk is on the verge of critical and is worsening to such an extent that it may be too late to fix it,” DeepState said.
Reuters was unable to verify battlefield reports from either side due to reporting restrictions in the war zone.