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The Russian army approaches Pokrovsk, looking for a gateway to the city

The Russian forces gradually tighten the noose around the city of Pokrovsk, in the oblast of Donetsk, in eastern Ukraine, a key town for military logistics and the Ukrainian coal industry, whose main supply lines are threatened.

According to the chief of the military administration of this oblast, there are 7,000 inhabitants in Pokrovsk, on a pre-war population of 60,000 inhabitants. The last post office recently closed its doors. The mail will now be delivered by armored truck, reports Reuters. On each side of the city, the Russian troops are within the reach of artillery and drones of a crucial highway which crosses from east to west of Ukraine in its entirety, and most cars now make detours by Secondary roads leading to Pokrovsk for their safety.

In recent days, Moscow forces have reached the main rail line connecting Pokrovsk to Dnipro, the most important logistics center in eastern Ukraine. “The situation is difficult, the enemy is constantly attacking on foot”said the deputy commander of the 59ᵉ Ukrainian assault brigade, who fights on the Front de Pokrovsk, with Reuters.

According to the news agency, the officer said that the enemy had a much larger number of infantry, which he attacked in small groups ready to suffer extremely high losses and that he skilfully exploited the landscape and low visibility weather conditions to hide drones: “Day and night, they advance”.

Viktor Trehoubov, Ukrainian military spokesperson, said the Russians were trying to circumvent and surround Pokrovsk from the west, adding that it was different from their approach when taking the major previous urban areas, where they had opted for expensive frontal assaults and street fights. “It seems that, perhaps for the first time, they have started to save their workforce”he said.

On Sunday, the president, Volodymyr Zelensky, placed one of the highest ranks of Ukraine, the head of the terrestrial forces Mykhaïlo Drapaty, at the head of the strategic command which supervises a large part of the front line, including Pokrovsk.

Source: Lemonde

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