Authorities in both and reported on Tuesday, a transport and logistics hub which Russia has been trying to capture for more than a year.
Ukraine’s military said it had deployed additional special forces, weapons and equipment to a part of the city that’s key for Kyiv’s frontline logistics.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said its soldiers had cleared 35 buildings of Ukrainian troops in the town and were also approaching Ukrainian troops near the town of Kupiansk in the Kharkiv region, about 160 kilometers (100 miles) to the north.
The specifics of both sides’ statements could not be verified. Ukraine has disputed Russian claims of its troops being encircled either in Pokrovsk or Kupiansk.
Russia seeks control of modal point in western Donetsk
Ukraine’s HUR intelligence agency said its “Timur” special unit was operating in the strategically important logistics hub and that intelligence chief Kyrylo Budanov was also present in the city.
“Heavy fighting is taking place with the Russian occupiers,” the intelligence service said in its statement.
With peace talks at an impasse more than three and a half years after Russia’s invasion, Moscow says that it has the initiative on all sections of the front. However, it has not captured a sizeable settlement . Ukraine says the fight is largely at a stalemate and says recent territorial losses have been marginal.
While the vast majority of the roughly 60,000 residents of have long since fled the fighting, seizing the transport and logistics hub in the west of the Donetsk region would be Russia’s biggest symbolic and tactical gain in months.
Capturing it could provide a better foothold to move on towards cities like Kramatorsk and Sloviansk, the two largest cities still controlled by Ukraine in the Donetsk region, which Russia now recognizes as a breakaway republic.
Zelenskyy visits troops near the front
Ukrainian President acknowledged on Monday that Pokrovsk had come under severe pressure, but his military maintained Russian troops still did not control any district of the town entirely.
Zelenskyy said on Tuesday that he had visited troops figthing near the eastern city of Dobropillia, not far north of Pokrovsk, where Ukrainian forces are conducting a counteroffensive.
“This is our country, this is our east, and we will certainly do our utmost to keep it Ukrainian,” he said.
Meanwhile, Germany’s Finance Ministry announced on Tuesday that it planned an additional €3 billion (roughly $3.4 billion) in support for Ukraine in 2026, with the funds intended to support artillery, drones, armored vehicles and the replacement of two Patriot missile systems. Germany’s draft 2026 budget currently earmarks roughly €8.5 billion for Ukraine.
Edited by: Zac Crellin
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