There Are Piles Of Dead Russian Troops In The 'Valley Of Death' North Of Pokrovsk

The Ukrainians are shifting to a rural defense

After a yearlong siege, Russian forces are gradually consolidating their control over the ruins of Pokrovsk and neighboring Myrnohrad—pre-war populations 60,000 and 46,000, respectively—in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk Oblast.

Outnumbered and outgunned Ukrainian brigades, long starved of manpower owing to Ukraine’s corrupt and inefficient mobilization system, are retreating north to the fields and villages between Pokrovsk and the twin cities of Kramatorsk and Sloviansk, 25 miles to the north.

The twin cities, combined population 400,000, are the next major objectives for the Russian Center Group of Forces, whose 150,000 troops outnumber the local Ukrainian corps five to one. But there are good reasons to believe the march won’t be an easy one. If it took the Russians a year and tens of thousands of casualties to capture Pokrovsk and Myrnohrad, it may take them even longer—and cost even more—to even begin contesting Kramatorsk and Sloviansk.