Russia is focusing fire and troops on the devastated city of Pokrovsk in eastern Ukraine and appears to be getting closer to taking the gateway city to the most intense conflict area in the context of the conflict.
After more than a year of fighting, Pokrovsk, a railway hub in the Donetsk region, was largely devastated, with a population of 60,000 people before the conflict and now less than 1,300 people.
Ukrainian soldiers defending Pokrovsk reported the fierce fighting. Nearly a third of all the more than 1,200km long frontline fighting have been in Pokrovsk, and half of Russia's bomb attacks have been concentrated in the city, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said earlier this week.
While Ukrainian leaders have said Kiev's forces are recapturing residential areas in Pokrovsk, the Russian military has apparently taken control of the southwestern edge of Pokrovsk over the past few days, according to a field map by DeepState, a group affiliated with the Ukrainian military.
The map shows the Russian military has also captured two thin areas in the city's center and west, showing much of the rest of Pokrovsk as gray areas fighting for a fighting position.
Pokrovsk will be the largest city in Ukraine that Russia has won since Bakhmut in May 2023. The city is seen as the last major barrier to prevent Russian troops from approaching Sloviansk and Kramatorsk, two major cities still under Ukrainian control in Donetsk.
Conquering Pokrovsk could help Russia assert that it is on the way to advancing on the ground, making Ukraine more difficult if it does not give in to Russia's demands to end the conflict.
Meanwhile, what is happening in Pokrovsk shows a big problem for Ukraine: Not enough troops. At the end of last month, Mr. Zelensky said that Ukrainian forces were overwhelmed in terms of numbers with a score of 8 to 1 in the area around Pokrovsk. As Russian forces advanced into the city, DeepState warned that the nearby town of Myrnohrad could be cut off from the Ukrainian army.
"We are still fighting in the Myrnohrad area. If Pokrovsk falls, we will also collapse - Volodymyr, 26, the captain of an air attack Brigade, said.
