The Ukrainian Air Force Just Blew Up Russia's Favorite Foggy Supply Road

Expect the strike to slow, but not halt, the Russian capture of Pokrovsk

When a thick winter fog settled over the contested city of Pokrovsk in eastern Ukraine on Nov. 10, the Russian Center Group of Forces saw an opportunity.

The 150,000-strong group had been slowly creeping into Pokrovsk, following a yearlong campaign of siege and encirclement, by sending in lightly armed infantry, on foot, in groups of two or three.

Ukraine’s first-person-view drones, all-seeing and lethal, prevented larger infantry groups from infiltrating the city. To say nothing of Russian mechanized forces, which Ukrainians drones interdicted miles from Pokrovsk.

The fog changed everything. A large Russian assault group riding on motorcycles and in compact cars and vans speeded into Pokrovsk, betting—correctly—that the bad weather would ground or blind the drones long enough for the Russians to find cover inside Pokrovsk. (See video below.)

And that’s why, five days later, the 7th Rapid Reaction Corps—the outnumbered Ukrainian force responsible for the steadily collapsing defense of Pokrovsk—called in an air strike. (See video at top.)

As a drone observed through the blinding fog, a precision bomb exploded at a key intersection on the road threading from the Russian base in Selydove to the southern outskirts of Pokrovsk.