Russia makes gains in eastern Ukraine as its forces advance on key city of Pokrovsk

Russian forces made gains on Monday in the village of Hrodivka, 15 kilometres southeast from the supply hub city of Pokrovsk in eastern Ukraine, according to DeepState, a group of military analysts monitoring the latest updates in the war in Ukraine.

Pokrovsk is considered to be a strategically important city as it lies on the crossroads of Ukraine’s most important rail supply routes, used by the Ukrainian military to supply other embattled towns such as Chasiv Yar and Kostiantynivka in the Donetsk region.

The Russian Defense Ministry announced on Sunday that Russian troops had taken control of the city of Novohrodivka, 20 kilometres from Pokrovsk.

That same day the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces reported that their forces were “holding back the advance of Russian occupiers”, noting that the situation around Pokrovsk “remains tense” as Russian troops continue to attack nearby cities and villages with air and artillery strikes.

“The enemy has carried out 23 assaults on Ukrainian positions. Fighting continues in six locations,” the General Staff said.

In an interview with CNN on Sunday, Ukrainian Armed Forces Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi challenged reports of Russian military gains towards Pokrovsk. “Over the past six days [Russia] has not advanced a single metre in the Pokrovsk direction. So our strategy is working,” Syrskyi said.

Capturing Pokrovsk has political as well as military significance for Russia, as without it, the Russians would not be able to fulfil Vladimir Putin’s orders to capture the entire Donetsk and Luhansk regions in eastern Ukraine, which Putin said on Thursday was Russia’s “primary objective”.

If Russian forces reach and capture Pokrovsk, it would mark a “significant step towards occupying the entire Donetsk region”, experts told Novaya Gazeta Europe, while others suggested that Russia is unlikely to take Pokrovsk this year due to Ukraine’s newly set up fortifications around the city.