Pokrovsk in peril: Intense Russian offensive threatens vital Ukrainian military hub | What's at risk?

Russian forces are advancing towards the strategically significant city of Pokrovsk in eastern Ukraine, posing a threat to a crucial Ukrainian supply line as Moscow continues its slow and relentless offensive.

Russian troops were reported to be about 20 kilometres (12 miles) from Pokrovsk on Tuesday, according to the Institute for the Study of War (ISW). The institute noted “intensive efforts to advance and conduct a limited tactical encirclement of Ukrainian forces in the Pokrovsk direction.”

The significance of Pokrovsk

The area around Pokrovsk has experienced some of the fiercest fighting along the 1,000-kilometre front line in recent months, with Russian forces advancing after capturing Avdiivka in February.

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Pokrovsk is not a major city; it had a pre-war population of about 60,000, many of whom have since fled. However, it serves as a key hub for the Ukrainian military due to its easy access to Kostiantynivka, another military centre. The road connecting the two towns is vital for resupplying Ukrainian troops on the front lines and evacuating casualties towards Dnipro, according to CNN.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has stated his objective to seize all of the eastern Ukrainian regions of Luhansk and Donetsk.

The Russian Defence Ministry announced that its forces had captured the Ukrainian villages of Lozuvatske over the weekend and Vovche on Monday. Both villages are approximately 15 kilometres from the road between Kostiantynivka and Pokrovsk.

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Kostiantynivka is the southernmost part of a cluster of four Ukrainian cities – Druzhkivka, Kramatorsk, and Sloviansk being the others – that form the backbone of Ukraine’s defence in the region. Thus, any Russian advance towards Kostiantynivka is cause for concern.

“As of today, the city is 20 km (12 miles) from the front line,” Serhiy Dobriak, head of the city’s military administration, told US broadcaster Radio Free Europe.

Ukraine facing challenging realities

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy acknowledged the tough situation, stating that Ukrainian troops were facing “extremely challenging” conditions in the area.

“It is in the Pokrovsk direction that there have been the biggest number of Russian assaults these weeks – the most intense enemy attacks are precisely there. Everyone who stops these Russian strikes and destroys this Russian offensive potential is performing one of the most important missions in this war,” President Zelenskyy said in his nightly address to the nation on Sunday (July 28).

Russia’s tactics

Russia has been stretching Ukrainian defences across the entire eastern front line for months, aiming to capture as much territory as possible before new Ukrainian recruits and fresh batches of Western weapons arrive on the battlefield.

On Monday, the Ukrainian General Staff, in a regular battlefield update, reported that fighting on the Pokrovsk front was the fiercest in the war-torn east. Ukraine had repelled 52 Russian assaults there in the last 24 hours.

Ukraine began receiving new batches of US weapons in May. It has also recruited thousands of new soldiers who are currently in training and expected to join the front lines in the autumn. The combination of these new soldiers and weapons should give Ukraine a significant boost. Russia’s strategy seems to be to slow this down as much as possible.

By pushing ahead and making these gradual, incremental advances along the front line, Russia is forcing Ukraine to commit to defensive operations rather than prepare for a counteroffensive.

With inputs from agencies