Key Ukraine city faces ‘multi-thousand’ Russian drive, high commander admits

Ukraine’s high army commander has admitted his troopers are going through “tough circumstances” defending Pokrovsk – a key japanese front-line city – in opposition to massed Russian forces.

Gen Oleksandr Syrskyi mentioned Ukrainian troops have been going through a “multi-thousand enemy” drive – however denied Russian claims that they have been surrounded or blocked.

He confirmed that elite particular forces had been deployed to guard key provide strains which, military sources mentioned, have been all beneath Russian fireplace.

The defence ministry in Moscow reported that Ukrainian troops have been surrendering and 11 of their particular forces had been killed after touchdown by helicopter, one thing denied by Kyiv.

In Saturday’s posts on Telegram, Gen Syrskyi mentioned he was “again on the entrance” to personally hear the most recent stories from army commanders on the bottom within the japanese Donetsk area.

In a brief video, Syrskyi is seen learning battlefield maps with different commanders, together with the pinnacle of Ukraine’s army intelligence, Kyrylo Budanov.

It’s unclear when and the place the footage was recorded.

Ukrainian media earlier reported that Budanov was within the area to personally oversee the operation by the particular forces.

The deployment of particular forces suggests officers in Kyiv are decided to attempt to maintain on to the city, which Russia has been making an attempt to grab for greater than a yr.

Ukraine’s seventh Speedy Response Corps mentioned on Saturday Ukrainian troops “have improved [their] tactical place” in Pokrovsk – however the state of affairs remained “tough and dynamic”.

Late on Friday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky burdened that the defence of Pokrovsk was a “precedence”.

There have been rising stories of Russian advances across the strategic city to the west of the Russian-seized regional capital of Donetsk.

Photographs shared with information businesses late on Friday seem to point out a Ukrainian Black Hawk helicopter deploying about 10 troops close to Pokrovsk, though the placement and date couldn’t be verified.

Russia’s defence ministry mentioned it had thwarted the deployment of Ukrainian army intelligence particular forces north-west of the city, killing all 11 troops who landed by helicopter.

DeepState, a Ukrainian open-source monitoring group, estimates about half of Pokrovsk is a so-called “gray zone” the place neither aspect is in full management.

A army supply in Donetsk advised the BBC that Ukrainian forces weren’t surrounded however their provide strains have been beneath fireplace from Russian troops.

The US-based Institute for the Research of Struggle mentioned Ukrainian forces had “marginally superior” throughout latest counter-attacks north of Pokrovsk, however mentioned the city was “primarily a contested ‘gray zone'”.

Moscow desires Kyiv to cede the Donetsk and the neighbouring Luhansk areas (collectively often known as Donbas) as a part of a peace deal, together with the elements it presently doesn’t management.

Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in Feebruary 2022, and presently controls about 20% of Ukrainian territory, together with the Crimean peninsula Moscow annexed in 2014.

Pokrovsk is a key transport and provide hub whose seize might unlock Russian efforts to grab the remainder of the area.

However Kyiv additionally believes its seize would assist Russia in its efforts to steer the US that its army marketing campaign is succeeding – and, subsequently, that the West ought to acquiesce to its calls for.

Washington has grown more and more pissed off with the Kremlin’s failure to maneuver ahead with peace negotiations – culminating in US President Donald Trump putting sanctions on two largest Russian oil producers and axing plans for a summit with President Vladimir Putin.

Zelensky has publicly agreed with Trump’s proposal for a ceasefire that might freeze the battle alongside the present entrance strains.

Putin is refusing to take action, insisting on his maximalist pre-invasion calls for that Kyiv and its Western allies see as a de facto capitulation of Ukraine.

Extra reporting by Jaroslav Lukiv