Street battles are raging in the Ukrainian stronghold of Pokrovsk, where Russian soldiers have entered the city after a nearly yearlong assault. The breakthrough underscores the painstaking pace of Moscow’s military advances, but if Russia eventually takes full control of Pokrovsk it would gain a strategically important bridgehead in eastern Ukraine.
President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine told reporters on Tuesday that about 200 Russian troops had infiltrated the city, but Ukrainian soldiers fighting there said this was a conservative estimate. The Russian units are holding positions in the south of the city and pushing north, according to online battlefield maps compiled by independent groups and based on combat footage.
“The situation is very difficult because a significant part of the city has already been infiltrated by the occupiers,” said Denys, a Ukrainian drone operator who gave only his first name according to military protocol.
“They’re still building up their presence, more and more, trying to completely saturate the city with their forces,” he said. “When they encounter our positions, they engage in firefights.”
Ukrainian soldiers say there is now active street fighting in Pokrovsk. Battlefield maps from DeepState, a group with ties to the Ukrainian military, show large portions of the city in a gray zone, indicating areas where control is being contested.
Pokrovsk, which had a prewar population of about 60,000, is on a critical road linking several cities that form the last major defensive arc protecting the portion of the Donetsk region that Ukraine still controls. If the city falls, it would bring Russia closer to achieving its longtime goal of seizing the entire region.
President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia has said Russia would agree to stop fighting only if Kyiv ceded Donetsk. The Kremlin would likely use a capture of Pokrovsk to argue to the Trump administration that its military advances are inexorable and that Ukraine should settle for a peace deal, even if it means ceding land.
“We understand why they need Pokrovsk,” Mr. Zelensky told reporters this week, adding that Moscow wanted it to bolster its claim that a Ukrainian retreat and territorial concessions were “the only possible” way to end the war.
Holding the city, Mr. Zelensky suggested, is vital to counter that narrative. But how long Ukrainian troops can maintain control of Pokrovsk is unclear. Mr. Zelensky said Russian troops in the city outnumbered Ukrainian defenders roughly eight to one.
There are now likely too many Russian forces in the city for Ukraine to push them back, said Pasi Paroinen, a military analyst with the Finland-based Black Bird Group. Ukrainian soldiers say they face the same challenges that have forced Ukrainian forces to retreat in other battles: troop shortages and relentless Russian drone attacks that have cut off their supply chains.
Ukrainian forces are also being stretched by other assaults along the eastern front. Russian troops have entered Kupiansk, a city Ukraine reclaimed in 2022, and have partly encircled Kostiantynivka, a gateway to northern Donetsk.
Pokrovsk had long stood as a bulwark against Russian advances. Moscow’s forces began attacking the city about a year ago but were held back by Ukraine’s well-prepared defensive lines and extensive use of drones to detect and target incoming attacks.
To get around these defenses, Russian forces adopted tactics that they have used elsewhere, like relying on small dismounted assault groups, sometimes just two soldiers, which are harder for drones to detect and can infiltrate undermanned Ukrainian lines. Over time, they were able to concentrate enough troops in the city to stage a larger offensive.
“These small groups are like needles: one prick doesn’t hurt much, but when there are many, it becomes an acupuncture session with very sad consequences,” said Bohdan Yanush, deputy battalion commander in Ukraine’s 79th Air Assault Brigade. “They harass logistics, detect our servicemen and open fire on them.”
Mr. Paroinen said poor weather, which hampers Ukrainian reconnaissance drones, also helped the Russians, occasionally allowing their armored vehicles to move with less detection. “The Russians have been using this window for mechanized attacks, complicating the defense for the Ukrainians,” he said.
Denys, the Ukrainian drone operator, said Russian forces had also exploited the continued presence of civilians in Pokrovsk — more than 1,000 are there, according to local authorities — by wearing civilian clothing to conceal themselves.
“How can you tell who’s who if there are no identifying marks, they’re in civilian clothes, and pretending they’re just going to fetch water from a well, so to speak?” he asked.
Another Ukrainian drone operator, who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the news media, said he had seen what appeared to be civilians near a house only for them to later launch drones from the same location.
The Ukrainian military is increasingly concerned that Russian troops are now moving to encircle its forces just east of Pokrovsk. DeepState’s maps show Russian forces moving in two pincer movements from the city center and villages to the northeast. Only a few miles separate the military advances, forcing Ukrainian reinforcements in the area to move through a narrow corridor under constant fire.
Constant Méheut reports on the war in Ukraine, including battlefield developments, attacks on civilian centers and how the war is affecting its people.
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