Reuters confirmed that Russian forces are slowly tightening the noose around the city of Pokrovsk in eastern Ukraine, which is a major logistics center whose main supply lines are under threat.
The agency believed that encircling or falling the city could put Russia in a strong position to launch attacks in several directions in the east and increase pressure on Kiev at a crucial stage of the war.It pointed out that life in Pokrovsk is bleak.
According to the governor of the region, only 7,000 residents remain out of a total pre-war population of 60,000, and the last post office was recently closed – now, mail is delivered by armored trucks. In the past few days, according to the agency, Moscow’s forces have reached the main railway line leading to the city from the most important logistics center in eastern Ukraine; the city of Dnipro.
The deputy commander of the 59th Assault Brigade in Ukraine, which is fighting on the Pokrovsk front, said: “The situation is difficult in general. The enemy is constantly attacking on foot.”
“The enemy (Russia) has much larger numbers of infantry, attacked in small groups, was prepared to take very high casualties, and skillfully exploited the terrain and low-visibility weather conditions to hide itself from drones,” the officer said.
Michael Kofman, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington, said the crossings at Pokrovsk meant Russian forces could use it as a launching pad for an attack north or west if it fell. “
This sets up Russian forces for a potential advance into the Dnepropetrovsk area … behind the front lines, where they build and repair rail lines. Then they can improve their own logistics, and that enables them to move west,” Kofman said.
Pokrovsk’s road and rail connections have made it an important supply hub for much of Ukraine’s front line, Reuters reported, although the threat from Russian artillery and drones in recent months has limited that function.
It stressed that Moscow’s control over part of this region may strengthen its position in future negotiations, in light of US President Donald Trump’s pressure on both sides to reach a peace agreement.
