Zelensky posted photos from a command post in the Dobropillya sector, about 20 km north of Pokrovsk in the Donetsk region, and met personnel there. Ukraine’s top commander, Oleksandr Syrskiy, said Kyiv was increasing pressure on the Dobropillya front to make it harder for Moscow to mass troops around Pokrovsk.
Russia has sought for more than a year to seize Pokrovsk, a strategic logistics hub. After months of slow advances to the city’s outskirts, Russian soldiers have infiltrated the town, Zelensky said on Friday, adding Moscow had amassed 170,000 troops nearby.
Competing claims over control of the area continue. Syrskiy said Ukrainian units were withstanding the “pressure of a multi-thousand enemy grouping” and were not encircled. Russian military bloggers claimed 90% of Pokrovsk was under Moscow’s control.
The U.S.-based Institute for the Study of War said Russian forces were operating with “increasing comfort” inside the town, which once had a population of 60,000 but is now largely destroyed and almost entirely emptied of civilians, according to the think-tank.
Further east, Russian troops were also reported to be targeting Myrnohrad, raising the risk of a Ukrainian encirclement, while intense drone activity has cut key logistics routes and hindered evacuations and resupply.
Zelensky said on Monday that Russia had “no success” in Pokrovsk in recent days but acknowledged conditions were “not easy.” He said a third of all front-line clashes were occurring there, and that half of Russian glide bombs were being launched at the town. He previously said Moscow’s forces in the area outnumbered Ukraine’s eight to one.
“This is our country, this is our East, and we will certainly do our utmost to keep it Ukrainian,” Zelensky wrote alongside images of his visit.
Russia now controls 81% of Donetsk and 99% of neighboring Luhansk, regions President Vladimir Putin declared annexed in 2022 despite lacking full control.
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Source: BBC, PAP