"Fighting is already on the outskirts": Only the soldiers of the Armed Forces and shop owners remain in Pokrovsk (photo)

This was discussed after the Telegram channel "Pokrovsk Online". Now thousands of civilians who, according to officials, still remain in Pokrovsk, are forced to winter without water. The gas pipelines used for heating homes and enterprises are also disconnected. In public statements, the General Staff of Ukraine says that Russia's most intense terrestrial attacks throughout the Eastern Front are now in Pokrovskaya district - from 30 to 60 a day, some a kilometer from the city.

Svetlana Storozhko still manages a small grocery store and cafe. "Grandma, take it," she said an elderly woman who made purchases under the roar of artillery. "Bread will be tomorrow," she promised to buyers. Someone asked about the freshness of the sausage, and such an exchange of replicas, according to journalists of the American edition of NPR, seemed frightening.

Asked why she was not evacuated yet, the store owner laughed and confessed that she had already sent her pets to her friends a safer place far from the front. But she decided to suffer a little. But this choice is increasingly dangerous. "Fighting is already on the outskirts," said 41-year-old Vasily Pip. He performs the duties of the head of the evacuation group, which includes police officers from all over Ukraine. The White Angels unit helps civilians leave the Pokrovsky Military District.

The volunteer team works throughout the city and in the suburbs covered by battles, urging families to join the wave of displaced Ukrainians. According to Vasily, it is often difficult to persuade families, even when the war is near the threshold. "There are families who have returned to the city even with children," he said. "We try to be like psychologists, not to press on them, but to stay nearby and to help [to decide on departure].

" 22-year-old Danilo Reshetnyak works as a volunteer at the Children New Generation Charity. He registers people for evacuation from Pokrovsk. The Russian government has long been considering this harsh industrial city as a strategic goal. Pokrovskaya mines produce coal, which is vital for the steel industry of Ukraine. Railway and automobile crossings make the city a key transport unit.

The Institute of War Study has estimated that Russia has lost about 3,000 soldiers killed and seriously injured during an attempt to seize Pokrovsk for two weeks in December. How much Ukraine lost is unknown. "Ukrainians are very careful about their own losses, but it should usually be expected that the defending party is suffered by some losses," explained George Barros, the ISW analyst on Ukraine and Russia.

At the same time, he acknowledges that Russia has the advantage: "Ukrainians hold large parts of the territory with a very small number of people. " Soldier, named Vitaliy, led the hardly armored BMP Bradley in the city's outskirts. "The situation is bad enough. The worst is Russian drones," he explained. Using obscene vocabulary, he spoke of Russian drones, which almost every hour drops grenades and bombs.

When asked if Ukraine could keep Pokrovsk, Vitaliy shrugged and said that even if he fails, he should be at least worth trying. "The guys keep their best," the ambulance driver said. He added that some units that protect the city "do not receive the necessary support. " "This is a policy," said Sergei. "We don't have enough shells and other supplies. " In December, a general was replaced by the defense of Pokrovsk after he was unable to stop Russia's offensive.

But most military analysts say that the strict reality is that the Russian army is simply much larger, uses more people, more artillery, more shells. "We try to fail as many Russians as possible before they reach our positions," said pilot Dron Yuri. "But sometimes they are just too much. But now Pokrovsk is still held by Ukrainians, which is a significant achievement, the authors of the publication say. George Barros, the ISW analyst, said that in 2024 Ukraine was forced to retreat.

But the defense forces also slowed Russia, killing or injuring up to 30,000 Russian soldiers every month throughout the front. "The Russian number of personnel is actually very limited. The Russians are trying hard to compensate for these 30,000 losses per month," Barros said. "They have a system that allowed to withstand these losses for the last two and a half years, but it is no longer working. " It is unclear how long Ukraine will be able to defend Pokrovsk.