Pokrovsk Under Siege: Ukraine’s Battle to Delay Russian Advance

KYIV, Ukraine — Intense combat is raging in the eastern city of Pokrovsk as Russian troops continue their extended efforts to capture this industrial center in Ukraine’s Donetsk region.

Once inhabited by around 60,000 residents, Pokrovsk has endured over a year and a half of continuous shelling. The conflict in the city has now reached a pivotal moment.

Western military experts report that Russian forces have gradually advanced into the southern outskirts of Pokrovsk, systematically wearing down Ukrainian defenses and taking advantage of deteriorating late-autumn weather to move personnel and equipment closer to the battlefield. They describe the situation as a grueling battle of attrition, stretching Ukrainian forces thin.

«The logistical issues are the main challenge,» remarked Artem, a Ukrainian drone operator engaged in the fighting near Pokrovsk, who requested anonymity. «Russian drones have completely clogged the roads. No vehicles can enter or exit the city without being instantly spotted.»

Despite these adversities, Ukrainian units, including those from the 25th, 7th, and 68th brigades, continue to hold portions of Pokrovsk, as well as the nearby town of Myrnohrad, located roughly seven kilometers to the east.

Artem noted that the intensity of the skirmishes has increased recently as Russian troops have resumed mechanized assaults.

«They deploy about ten armored vehicles at once toward our positions,» he shared with The Moscow Times. «Typically, we can destroy them quickly, but the fog, rain, and low winter clouds slow our response. We take down the majority, but some manage to breach our defenses and deliver troops into the city.»

Michael Kofman, a military analyst and senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, highlighted that Ukraine’s 7th Rapid Response Corps — which took charge of this sector in July — has struggled under deteriorating conditions and limited resources. With little room for maneuver, commanders have been compelled to shift scarce supplies from one vulnerable position to another.

On the battlefield, Russian forces have penetrated the Shakhta district, which serves as the city’s industrial hub.

«Once they enter, it’s nearly impossible to drive them out,» said Artem. «They conceal themselves in basements and tunnels, await reinforcements, and advance from house to house.»

Like Bakhmut before it, Pokrovsk has emerged as a symbol of Ukrainian resilience and is among the last significant cities in southern Donetsk that must fall for Russia to pursue further territorial ambitions toward Druzhkivka, Kramatorsk, and Sloviansk.

During a visit to a military hospital in Moscow last month, President Vladimir Putin claimed that Pokrovsk was encircled. This assertion was quickly dismissed by Oleksandr Syrskyi, Ukraine’s leading general, who stated in early November that Ukrainian forces «must withstand the pressure of an enemy group consisting of several thousand men, which continues to seek to infiltrate residential areas and disrupt our supply lines.» However, Syrskyi clarified, «there is neither an encirclement nor a blockade» of the city.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky echoed this sentiment, warning that the Russian military’s «primary objective is to occupy Pokrovsk as swiftly as possible.» The recent onslaughts, he noted, underscore this objective: 220 attacks within just three days. According to military data he referenced, around 314 Russian troops are already operating within the city.

Given its symbolic significance, the battle for Pokrovsk carries substantial political implications for both Kyiv and Moscow. Similar to the situations in Bakhmut and Avdiivka, it raises questions regarding how long Ukrainian commanders will strive to maintain control of the city and whether they may eventually coordinate a retreat to more defensible positions on the outskirts.

Yet Artem, the Ukrainian drone operator, expressed to The Moscow Times that the situation in Myrnohrad is also deteriorating. He warned that holding the town is becoming progressively tougher and believes that the high command should consider evacuation, although he fears «it may already be too late.»

His concerns seem validated by open-source investigators who used drone footage to verify the presence of Russian reconnaissance troops beyond a major highway connecting Myrnohrad and Pokrovsk, to the east of the village of Rivne. The footage depicts Russian soldiers capturing a Ukrainian serviceman.

The capture of this crucial crossroads indicates that Ukrainian forces operating in the Pokrovsk area and south of Myrnohrad may now find themselves partly surrounded.

Nevertheless, as the situation evolves rapidly, it is hard to ascertain whether the front lines have stabilized.

«There’s such chaos that it’s difficult to pinpoint where our units are positioned,» Artem commented. «The front has become so permeable that Russian troops can be behind our lines and vice versa. It’s turned into house-to-house combat.»

He added that this instability could paradoxically facilitate the escape of encircled Ukrainian units should a withdrawal be ordered. «It’s a march of over ten kilometers under relentless drone attack,» Artem explained, «but it is still achievable.»

Artem believes that Ukraine has already met its primary goal in Pokrovsk: compelling Russia to invest significant personnel and resources into the fight for over a year, significantly degrading its forces.

However, he finds little room for optimism. «For the Russians, the soldiers they send to die mean nothing. They will always have more,» Artem remarked to The Moscow Times. He asserts that true success lies in inflicting maximum damage on Russian equipment, bolstering defensive lines, and buying time.

According to analyst Kofman, the current situation is more advantageous for Ukraine than the battle near Avdiivka in 2024.

Kofman points out that Russian troops lack the momentum following offensives that drained much of their combat capacity. Their advances are slow, and they cannot maintain heavy pressure along the front. Their tactics now rely mainly on small infantry groups maneuvering on foot, infiltrating buildings and defensive positions while waiting for reinforcements.

Without the capability to deploy armored vehicles or tanks to capitalize on any gains made, their assaults remain limited and have not yielded significant breakthroughs, Kofman notes.

If Pokrovsk falls, Russian forces could deploy drones directly from within the city, transforming it into a forward operating base to push Ukrainian troops further west.

Sébastien Gobert, a French journalist and author who has written about Ukrainian oligarchs, believes that Pokrovsk is largely lost and that the pressing question is how to prepare for the next major offensive.

«The city has not fallen yet, but we must begin to draw lessons from this confrontation,» he stated to The Moscow Times. «We need to consider Ukraine’s future resistance capabilities, especially regarding human resources.»

Gobert highlighted ongoing issues with Ukraine’s mobilization, recruitment, and training that emerged in 2022 and 2023 and remain unresolved. Meanwhile, Russia continues to enlist several thousand more troops each month than Ukraine.

«Pokrovsk is yet another trial for Ukraine,» Gobert said. «It will reveal whether the high command decides to conserve its forces or cling to the city, as was done in Bakhmut, until the final moment to inflict maximum casualties on the enemy. Leadership is already facing heavy criticism for its prolonged defense.»

The conflict, he added, has evolved into a political challenge as much as a military one — a gauge of the confidence between Ukraine’s government, its armed forces, and its society. The military aspect, he noted, has already been compromised, putting Pokrovsk on the brink of capitulation.

What remains is the trust question: whether the public and the troops will retain faith in the nation’s leadership following the loss of the city.

«When Pokrovsk falls,» he concluded, «the front won’t disintegrate on its own, but this new challenge will determine Ukraine’s capacity for resilience and endurance in future battles.»