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 Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine, a key city for military logistics and the Ukrainian coal industry, whose main lines of supply are threatened.
According to the governor of the region, there are 7,000 inhabitants in Pokrovsk, on a population of pre-war 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 the city to Dnipro, the most important logistics center in eastern Ukraine. “The situation is generally difficult, the enemy is constantly attacking on foot”said the deputy commander of the Ukrainian 59ᵉbrigade, who fights on the Pokrovsk front, 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”. Russia.
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, President Volodymyr Zelensky placed one of the highest grades of Ukraine, the head of land forces Mykhaïlo Drapaty, at the head of the strategic command which oversees a large part of the front line, including Pokrovsk .
Source: Lemonde