Ukraine has deployed additional troops to the embattled eastern city of Pokrovsk, where intense street fighting is underway after an estimated 200 Russian soldiers infiltrated the city in small groups, Kyiv’s military said on Monday.
The Ukrainian General Staff reported close-range firefights and heavy drone activity across the city, describing the situation as “extremely difficult.”
Russia’s Defence Ministry confirmed that its assault units were advancing near Pokrovsk’s train station, a strategic transport hub in the Donetsk region.
“There is fierce fighting in the city and on its approaches. Logistics are difficult. But we must continue to destroy the occupiers,” President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a national address on Sunday.
Pokrovsk has long been a focal point of Russia’s offensive in eastern Ukraine, serving as a key node in Kyiv’s defensive line and supply network.
Capturing it would open a pathway for Moscow’s forces to push deeper into Ukrainian-held parts of Donetsk, one of two regions comprising the Donbas industrial heartland.
The renewed assault comes after a failed effort by U.S. President Donald Trump to broker a ceasefire earlier this month. Ukrainian officials say Russia intensified attacks immediately after the talks collapsed.
Ukraine’s 7th Rapid Response Unit said it has reinforced its positions in recent days amid escalating urban combat.
“The occupiers who have entered the city are not trying to take hold but intend to advance further north,” the unit said in a Facebook post. “Their goal is to disperse our defense forces and block land logistics corridors.”
Zelenskyy told Axios that Russian intelligence operations indicate President Vladimir Putin aims to seize the entire Donbas region, including both Donetsk and Luhansk, by October 15, though the claim could not be independently verified.
Open-source analysts from Ukraine’s Deep State mapping project said the Ukrainian-controlled area southwest of Pokrovsk has significantly shrunk, with roughly one-fifth of the city’s territory now listed as “requiring clarification.”
Russia currently controls about 75% of Donetsk, while around 6,600 square kilometers (2,550 square miles) remain under Ukrainian control.
Despite frequent reports of incremental Russian advances, Moscow’s forces have failed to achieve a decisive breakthrough in over a year of grinding combat across the eastern front.
Source: Reuters
Written By Rodney Mbua
