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But successful caller weeks, tens of thousands of Russian soldiers person been storming the town astir the clock, taking implicit the streets wherever buildings are mostly reduced to bombed-out, deserted ruins.
They usage reconnaissance drones and outer images to place gaps successful Ukrainian defences and usage tiny groups of soldiers who are attacked and killed successful droves by Ukrainian drones.
But the surviving soldiers grind forward, targeting drone operators and engaging them successful adjacent combat, blazing the way for larger groups of servicemen.
They are backed by Russian artillery, drones and glide bombs that destruct adjacent the deepest and astir fortified bunkers.
The municipality is “a furniture barroom of passages, spots nether fire, our and force positions”, Kirill Sazonov, a Ukrainian governmental scientist-turned-serviceman, wrote connected Telegram connected Thursday.
“Somebody is sitting connected a 3rd floor, someone’s successful a location adjacent door, someone’s successful the basement,” helium wrote. “There’s nary beforehand line, sectors nether [Russian oregon Ukrainian] power oregon logic.”
He’s assured that Ukrainian forces won’t permission Pokrovsk due to the fact that Kyiv wants to support it by immoderate means indispensable – and the unfastened fields extracurricular it are “less comfy than the town’s basements”.
Moscow wants to spur Pokrovsk’s takeover due to the fact that of worsening weather, muddy roads and a deficiency of histrion foliage that makes unit movements much detectable.
But immoderate predictions astir Pokrovsk’s aboriginal tin lone beryllium made “by an idiot, a cynic oregon a tarot cards reader”, Sazonov wrote.
Members of the White Angel constabulary unit, which evacuates radical from front-line towns and villages, cheque an country for residents successful Pokrovsk connected May 21, 2025 [Anatolii Stepanov/Reuters]Is the takeover imminent?
Other analysts disagreed with Sazonov’s appraisal that Ukraine volition clasp its position.
Ukrainian forces “have truthful fewer soldiers connected the beforehand enactment that it was imaginable to incorporate Russia’s beforehand lone portion the Russians were successful the fields” astir Pokrovsk, Nikolay Mitrokhin, a researcher with Germany’s Bremen University, told Al Jazeera.
As soon arsenic Russian soldiers infiltrated the town, they met adjacent to nary absorption due to the fact that Ukrainians are truthful fewer and their drones are little effectual among buildings, helium said.
“The town’s takeover is simply a substance of time,” Mitrokhin, who has written hundreds of authoritative analyses of the hostilities since Russia began its full-scale penetration successful 2022, told Al Jazeera.
Kyiv whitethorn person to marque the uneasy determination to propulsion the remaining forces retired of Pokrovsk oregon hazard having them encircled, helium said.
(Al Jazeera)Why does Russia privation Pokrovsk truthful badly?
Moscow wants to usage the municipality arsenic a springboard for the takeover of the Kyiv-controlled portion of Donbas, a cardinal rustbelt portion whose annexation Russia declared unilaterally successful September 2022.
Kyiv inactive controls one-third of Donbas, and Pokrovsk’s autumn volition pave the mode for the takeover of different parts of Ukraine’s “belt of strongholds” that person been fortified since 2014.
The town’s commanding heights volition besides fto Russian forces usage swarms of drones to backmost their beforehand westwards to the Dnipro region.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited the municipality successful precocious October to promote the troops, but adjacent his staunchest supporters lambasted him and his apical brass for allowing Russian forces to infiltrate Pokrovsk and smaller towns nearby.
“The president takes the hazard by coming to enactment the troops, but systemic problems of managing the troops are not being solved, and we support losing municipality aft town,” lawmaker Mariana Bazuhla wrote connected Facebook connected Tuesday.
Pokrovsk’s autumn would beryllium a large propaganda triumph for Moscow adjacent though the triumph volition person outgo tens of thousands of lives.
Ukrainian soldiers hole to occurrence artillery successful the absorption of Pokrovsk, Ukraine, connected September 9, 2025 [Diego Herrera Carcedo/Anadolu via Getty Images]How volition bid talks beryllium affected?
For Russia, the takeover of Pokrovsk would mean that the front-line is “unstable” and Moscow would effort to transportation Washington, wherever United States President Donald Trump has been pushing for bid talks for months, that this insistence connected a ceasefire makes nary sense, according to Volodymyr Fesenko, caput of the Kyiv-based Penta deliberation tank.
Washington and Kyiv privation to suspend hostilities on the existent beforehand line, which stretches much than 1,000km (620 miles), and statesman negotiations connected who volition clasp what territory aft that.
The Kremlin’s rationale is that “Russian forces are expanding the portion of their power and that Ukraine volition person to unilaterally cede land”, Fesenko told Al Jazeera.
“The bid colony volition beryllium paused for respective weeks oregon adjacent months,” helium said.
The Washington-brokered bid talks person been stalled for months and are not apt to beryllium resumed aft Trump cancelled his summit with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, which had been expected to beryllium held successful Budapest.
Meanwhile, the Kremlin keeps coming up with caller demands, specified arsenic Ukraine maintaining a neutral status, limitations of its subject and designation of Russia’s annexation of 4 Ukrainian regions.
Putin besides wants the West to assistance each sanctions slapped connected Russia since it annexed Crimea successful 2014 and the designation of Russian arsenic the 2nd authoritative connection successful Ukraine.
However, the imaginable nonaccomplishment of Pokrovsk won’t impact the warring tone of Ukrainian troops.
“This isn’t the archetypal municipality successful Donbas Ukrainian forces person to leave. I don’t deliberation it volition cardinally impact the morale,” Fesenko said.
What are the economical consequences if Pokrovsk falls to Russia?
Pokrovsk is simply a large centre for Ukraine’s ember mining industry, and ample metallurgical plants successful cardinal Ukraine beryllium connected the coking ember it produces.
It is besides location to astir a twelve Soviet-era plants though these person suspended enactment due to the fact that of the hostilities.
The town’s takeover could boost the Kremlin’s caller efforts to modify the plants of Donbas for accumulation of weaponry and military-related items, according to Pavel Lisyansky, caput of the Strategic Research and Security Institute, a Kyiv-based deliberation tank
“They militarise the economy,” helium told Al Jazeera, adding that Moscow aims to crook the portion into “a immense subject basal to frighten Europe”.
Pokrovsk besides sits astatine the intersection of respective strategical highways and railroads.
After Pokrovsk, Moscow volition propulsion to retake Sloviansk, the archetypal Ukrainian municipality seized by Moscow-backed separatists successful 2014.
The concern of Sloviansk, which sits by the Siversky Donets River, is besides the lone mode to reconstruct a canal supplying h2o to the drought-stricken, Russian-occupied metropolis of Donetsk and its metropolitan area.
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