Ukraine Reports Intense Russian Offensive on Pokrovsk

Ukrainian forces have reported an unusually large Russian mechanized attack in Pokrovsk, a key eastern city, where Moscow has reportedly concentrated around 156,000 troops in an attempt to seize the former logistics hub, now largely destroyed.

“The Russians used armored vehicles, cars, and motorcycles to try to break through from the south to the north of the city,” Ukraine’s 7th Rapid Response Corps said in a statement, The Caspian Post reports via foreign media.

A source from the Corps said that roughly 30 vehicles were deployed in convoy-the largest such assault in Pokrovsk so far, compared with previous attacks using only one or two vehicles. Kyiv insists its troops still hold the northern part of the city amid ongoing urban combat.

For months, Russian forces have been advancing in small infantry groups, seeking to capture the city as part of their campaign to control Ukraine’s industrial Donbas region. Videos shared by Ukrainian forces show heavy vehicles stuck in snow and mud, drone strikes on Russian troops, and explosions with burning wreckage.

Russian troops attempted to exploit poor weather but were repelled. Seizing Pokrovsk would mark Russia’s largest victory in Ukraine in nearly two years, adding pressure on Ukraine as it negotiates a US-backed peace proposal seen as favorable to Moscow.

Ukraine’s top military commander, Oleksandr Syrskii, warned that the situation remains critical as Russian forces continue massing around the city.