Battle for Pokrovsk: Ghost City in Donetsk-the most important in the war in Ukraine-Independent

The most important highway through Pokrovsk is now in the reach of Russian artillery and drones, which makes most vehicles leave the main road and move dangerous minor roads. Independent writes about it. Russian troops have also recently reached the main railway line, connecting Pokrovsk with a strategically important logistics node - the Dnieper, which further limited the way of supply and increased the risk of the environment.

According to journalists, this event marks the critical moment in the war, when the fate of Pokrovska hung on the hair. "The situation is generally difficult, the enemy is constantly attacking on foot,"-explained the deputy commander of the 59th assault brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on the call sign "Phoenix", which is fighting in the Pokrovsky direction. The officer said that the enemy has a lot more infantry and attacks in small groups, ready to suffer extremely high losses.

In this case, the landscape and weather conditions with poor visibility to hide from drones are used. "They move forward day and night," Phoenix said. Michael Kafman, Senior Researcher at the Carnegie Foundation for International Peace in Washington, said that thanks to the transit path of Pokrovsk, in the event of its fall, Russian troops will be able to use it as a bridgehead to promote north or west. "It prepares Russian troops for potential promotion in the Dnipropetrovsk region . . .

Further along the front line, they build and repair rail lines. Then they will be able to move their own logistics, and it will allow you to move further west," he added.

Control of the city, which the Russian media is called "gate in Donetsk" will allow the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation to seriously violate Ukrainian supply lines along the Eastern Front and strengthen the campaign from the capture of the Temporal Yar, located on the hill and opens potential control over the larger territory.

Restrictions on access of the Ukrainian military to the road network in the area will complicate the maintenance of areas of the territory on both sides of Pokrovsk. According to open sources, Russian troops are trying to take the city from the south -east and southwest. The Armed Forces representative Viktor Tregubov said that the Russians were trying to get around and surround Pokrovsk from the west.

According to him, tactics are used, which differs from the approach to taking the previous large urban areas, where there were mostly frontal attacks and street fights. "It seems that perhaps for the first time they began to keep their staff," he said. The three analysts with whom Reuters spoke with, they said that in the case of a city seizure in Russia there will be two main options for promoting the Battle of Pokrovsk.

The first is to the west, in the low -populated plains of Dnipropetrovsk region, which are poorly fortified and offered to Kiev few natural or urban obstacles to defense. The second is the offensive to the north, to a denser network of industrial cities, which will be more difficult to pass, but which will allow Moscow to put pressure on Kramatorsk and Slavyansk, the two largest of those left under the control of Ukraine in Donetsk region.

"Phoenix" said that the Russians have recently started using a new tactic - to send infantry units of three or four people deep into the territory to ambush on Ukrainian soldiers and equipment, using anti -tank mines. He added that in general the attacks have become a little less intense in the last month, and that Russia has fired less artillery than six months ago.

Passi Pasininen, a Finnish Analyst with a Black Bird Group, said that Ukraine barely reflects small infantry attacks in Russia, because it does not have enough for its own strength to comprehensively cover the front line. Kiev faced the long -standing problems of recruitment and mobilization, and last year there was an increase in the number of deserters and the escape of soldiers from exhausted, tired forces. "The Ukrainian units simply do not have enough infantry," Pasininen explained.