After more than a year of bloody assaults at great cost in troops and equipment, Russian forces are now fighting inside the key Ukrainian logistical hub of Pokrovsk, Ukrainian and Russian officials say.
Pokrovsk has been the major focus of fighting in the east because of its importance to both sides. Not only does it straddle a major rail line and several highways, it is part of a string of fortified cities in Ukraine’s Donetsk region that have so far prevented Russia from taking over all of that area and pushing deeper into Ukraine.
“The enemy has managed to drag…several hundred infantrymen into the city and continues to infiltrate deeper into the populated area, expanding their sabotage and reconnaissance activities,” a Ukrainian said. That assessment lines up with statements Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky made on Tuesday that about 200 Russian troops have entered Pokrovsk.
