"Pokrovsk is the gateway to Donetsk": why the Russian Armed Forces are desperately trying to take the city, media

Share: Russian troops have stepped up efforts to take control of Pokrovsk, a city in the Donetsk region that has become a symbol of Ukrainian resistance and at the same time a strategic target for Moscow. For more than a year, battles have been going on for this transport hub, which opens the way to key areas of Donbas and may determine the future of control over the region.

As The Independent reports, on Monday the Ministry of Defense of Russia announced the gradual advance of its units in the Pokrovska region. According to estimates, about 100,000 Russian military personnel are concentrated in the immediate vicinity of the city. Ukrainian forces are actively defending the city, and the Commander-in-Chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces Oleksandr Syrskyi emphasizes the need for maximum concentration of resources to contain the offensive.

In particular, Pokrovsk is of exceptional strategic importance due to its location on important transport routes and proximity to industrial facilities. The city is an important road and railway hub that provides communication between the Ukrainian-controlled areas of Donbas. On the outskirts is the only coking coal mine in the country, a resource that used to feed a powerful steel industry.

Now the mine is suspended, and most of the residents of Pokrovsk, including children, have been evacuated due to constant shelling. For Russia, capturing Pokrovsk is not just a matter of territory, but a key step in the realization of political and military ambitions in Donbas. The Kremlin calls the city the "gateway to Donetsk" and seeks to use it as a springboard for further advances north to Kramatorsk and Sloviansk, which remain under Ukrainian control.

In case of success, Moscow receives not only an operational advantage, but also a symbolic victory, which can increase the legitimacy of the illegally declared inclusion of Donbass into Russia at the domestic political level. Western analysts, including Rob Lee of the American Institute for Foreign Policy Studies, note that control of Pokrovsk would give Russia a tangible tactical advantage, especially at the end of the year, when Moscow seeks to consolidate its gains.

At the same time, even after taking the city, Russia will have to make significant efforts to seize other key objects in the Donetsk region and break through the Ukrainian defenses in Kramatorsk and Slovyansk. The Russian offensive is not conducted frontally, as in Bakhmut, but according to the scheme of "tick" circling movement: small units and drones attack Ukrainian supply lines, disrupting logistics and creating chaos in the rear.

This method allows Moscow to minimize its own losses, although significant fighting has been going on for more than a year. The incursion of Ukrainian troops into the Kursk region last year also slowed the pace of the Russian offensive, forcing a review of plans to capture Pokrovsk. Although fierce fighting continues on the approaches to Pokrovsk, Ukrainian troops are strengthening their defenses and holding key lines.

Analysts say Russian units are gradually advancing, but control of much of the city remains uncertain, and independent verification of reports is difficult due to limited access to the war zone. We will remind that, according to ISW, Ukrainian troops continue defense and counteroffensive actions in the Pokrovsky direction. At the same time, Russian units are trying to strengthen control in Pokrovsk and neighboring settlements.