A Horde of Russian Marines, Paratroopers and Motor Rifle Troops Is Surging Toward Pokrovsk

The Kremlin is robbing other fronts in order to make another push in the east

A marine with the Russian 155th Naval Infantry Brigade. Via social media

A powerful Russian force with at least eight corps and field armies, together overseeing dozens of regiments are brigades each with potentially thousands of troops, has been trying—and mostly failing—to capture a chain of Ukrainian cities stretching from Pokrovsk to Slovyansk in eastern Ukraine Donetsk Oblast.

So the Kremlin is sending more troops. A lot more.

No fewer than five Russian marine and airborne brigades, regiments and divisions have redeployed—or are in the process of redeploying—from Sumy Oblast in northern Ukraine to the bottom of the collapsing Russian salient northeast of Pokrovsk.

Meanwhile, a Russian motor rifle division is redeploying from Kherson Oblast in southern Ukraine.

“Russia is finalizing its strategic regrouping,” Unit Observer noted. “Having redeployed forces from Sumy and Kherson, its offensive will likely enter a new phase soon.”

But the movements also belie Russia’s struggles more than a year into its long march on Pokrovsk, the urban doorway to Ukraine’s main eastern defensive line threading through Kramatorsk and Slovyansk.