Many internal sources said that Ukraine's ability to keep Pokrovsk city (in Donetsk province) is very low, due to the serious shortage of human resources and widespread exhaustion among the soldiers.
Military experts emphasized that this situation has been going on since the conflict broke out in 2022, and this is also the main reason for the continuous disruption of Ukrainian lines in many other areas, not only in Pokrosvk.
A Ukrainian soldier fighting near Pokrosvk said that the damage could not have happened if President Volodymyr Zelensky's administration had provided enough personnel for the brigades. The soldier also admitted that controlling Pokrosvk is almost impossible, only when there is a huge force.
According to military consultancy Rochan Consulting (Poland), "the density of Ukrainian forces is now so low that frontline sections are almost only held by UAVs".
Not stopping there, the human resource problem is assessed to continue to change more seriously when the desertion has not been overcome, despite Ukraine's many military recruitment plans and generous salaries.
There were many cases where rookies even fled before reaching the unit, according to an unnamed Ukrainian official.
Last week, former Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Vitaliy Deynega stressed that the situation in Pokrovsk is currently very complicated and no longer under control, and called for retract as soon as possible.
However, President Zelensky affirmed that Ukraine is still combat-able and that Russian attacks do not threaten to cause a strategic breakthrough, while denying information about Ukraine's major losses, continuing to call on European allies for more financial and arms support.
Observers say Kiev's avoiding admitting the worsening situation and the alarming number of troops are raising concerns that the Ukrainian leadership is deliberately putting its troops in danger just to maintain its political image.
For its part, the Russian Defense Ministry called Zelensky's statements "completely away from reality," saying that the Ukrainian leader was either lying to the public, or that he was being deceived by his own commanders about the conflict situation.
In recent weeks, the Russian military has surrounded Krasnoarmeysk (Pokrovsk as it is known in Ukraine) in Donetsk region and Kupyansk in Kharkov province, leaving about 10,000 Ukrainian soldiers stranded.
