Russian forces are close to capturing the Ukrainian town of Pokrovsk in eastern Ukraine after a detour maneuver almost completely encircled it while highly mobile Russian units in small groups infiltrated the town, Russian military bloggers say, BTA writes, citing "Reuters".
A LITTLE ABOUT POKROVSK
Pokrovsk is a road and rail hub in eastern Ukraine's Donetsk region with a pre-war population of about 60,000 people. Most residents have now fled, all children have been evacuated, and few civilians remain in the town.
It lies on a key route used by the Ukrainian armed forces.
Ukraine’s only coking coal mine – used in its once-vast steel industry – is about 10 kilometers west of Pokrovsk. Ukrainian steelmaker Metinvest said in January it had stopped work at the mine.
Pokrovsk Technical University, the largest and oldest in the region, was damaged by shelling and is now abandoned.
WHY DOES RUSSIA WANT POKROVSK?
Russia wants to take over the entire Donbas region, which consists of Luhansk and Donetsk oblasts. Ukraine still controls about 10 percent of Donbas – about 5,000 square kilometers in the western part of Donetsk region.
Russian President Vladimir Putin says Donbass is now legally part of Russia, but Kiev and the West reject Moscow's takeover of the territory, calling it an illegal land grab.
Capturing Pokrovsk, dubbed the "gateway to Donetsk" by Russian media, and the town of Konstantinovka, which lies northwest of it and which Russian forces are also trying to surround, would give Moscow a foothold from which to advance north toward the two largest cities still controlled by Ukraine in Donetsk region - Kramatorsk and Slavyansk.
Control of Pokrovsk would allow Moscow to further disrupt Ukrainian supply chains on the eastern front and intensify its long-running campaign to capture the high-altitude town of Chasov Yar, which has the potential to secure control over a vast area.
Taking it would also give Russia more scope for attacks in Ukraine's Dnipropetrovsk region to the west, one of the areas Moscow does not claim, although it says it has established a foothold there.
WHY IS IT TAKING SO LONG?
Russia has been threatening to take Pokrovsk for more than a year, but instead of the deadly frontal attacks that gained widespread publicity in Bakhmut, Russian forces are using different tactics.
Russian forces have used detours to almost completely encircle completely Pokrovsk and threaten Ukrainian supply lines, then began constant attacks on Ukrainian forces with small units and drones to disrupt their supplies and cause chaos in the rear.
In effect, Russia's tactics have created what Russian military bloggers call a "gray zone" in the city, which is not controlled by either side but is extremely difficult - and expensive - to defend.
The clearing of Pokrovsk and nearby Mirnograd could take some time, thus delaying an official announcement from Russia. Ukraine’s incursion into Russia’s Kursk region last year also delayed the Russian attack on Pokrovsk. (DeepState) said Russian forces were continuing to penetrate the city.
“The situation in Pokrovsk is approaching a critical point and continues to deteriorate to the point where it may be too late to improve,“ said “DeepState“.
Reuters notes that it cannot confirm information about the battlefield situation from either side due to restrictions on journalists working in the war zone.
WHAT IS RUSSIA DOING ALONG THE REST OF THE FRONT?
Russian forces say they now control more than 19 percent of Ukraine, or about 116,000 square kilometers. Gerasimov told Putin on Sunday that Russian forces are also threatening Kupyansk in Ukraine's Kharkiv region and advancing into Dnipropetrovsk and Zaporizhia regions.
The Russian advance on the city of Zaporizhia shows that Moscow's current plans include seizing the entire region.
Moscow considers Crimea, Luhansk Oblast, Donetsk Oblast, Zaporizhia Oblast and Kherson Oblast to be territories of the Russian Federation.
Kiev says they are all part of Ukraine.
Most countries do not recognize the regions as part of Russia, but Syria, North Korea and Nicaragua recognize Moscow's annexation of Crimea. The UN General Assembly in 2014 declared the annexation illegal and recognized Crimea as part of Ukraine.
Putin accuses the West of double standards, as he recognized Kosovo as an independent state in 2008 against Serbia's wishes, but opposes the recognition of Crimea. Russia opposes Kosovo's independence.