Ukraine bolsters Pokrovsk defences as Russia escalates assaults

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KYIV (Reuters) -Ukraine is intensifying efforts to defend the strategic hub of Pokrovsk, aiming to secure supply and evacuation routes and root out Russian infantry infiltrating the city, the top army commander said on Thursday. 

Russia’s army has been inching towards Pokrovsk in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region for more than a year. Taking Pokrovsk could enable advances in the Donetsk region, which Russia aims to fully occupy, and the neighbouring Dnipropetrovsk region, said Oleksandr Kovalenko, a Ukrainian military analyst.

   Ukraine’s army chief Oleksandr Syrskyi visited his troops in the area as Russia, almost four years into its invasion of Ukraine, increased its assaults. 

“The enemy infantry, avoiding combat, is gathering in urban areas and changing locations, so the primary task is to locate and destroy them,” Syrskyi said on the Telegram app.

Ukraine was taking steps to “strengthen the stability of defences” in the city and protect supply and evacuation routes, Syrskyi said.

Over 1,200 people are still in Pokrovsk, according to the regional administration, which accused Russia of directly targeting civilians. The city had a population of around 60,000 before the 2022 invasion. Moscow routinely denies it targets civilians, but thousands have been killed in its attacks.

TACTICAL GAIN

Capturing Pokrovsk matters as much for Moscow’s military reputation as for tactical reasons, Kovalenko told Reuters. Since occupying the eastern town of Avdiivka in winter 2024, Moscow’s troops have failed to secure any large centres.

The Russian defence ministry said on Thursday its forces continued to strike encircled Ukrainian units, who it said refuse to surrender, near the city’s railway station. The military was repelling Ukrainian attempts to break out of the surrounded areas, it added.

Syrskyi dismissed Moscow’s assertion that its forces had trapped the Ukrainian troops inside the eastern stronghold.

“The main priority is to save the lives of our soldiers,” he said.

According to Ukraine’s military, at least 200 Russian military personnel have entered the city as small-arms firefights raged in the former logistics hub.

Russia was sending groups of three to four soldiers “non-stop,” Kovalenko said.

(Reporting by Yuliia Dysa; additional reporting by Max Rodionov; Editing by Alison Williams, Andrew Heavens, Rod Nickel)