Ukraine Is Losing In Pokrovsk, But Winning Outside Pokrovsk
A new defensive line is taking shape
North of Pokrovsk, Ukraine is winning. South of Pokrovsk, Russia is winning.
Pokrovsk itself is likely lost—but that may matter less than the terrain around it. Open ground with clear sightlines and dense obstacles has proven easier to defend than sprawling cities, where Russian infiltrators exploit blind spots and gaps between Ukrainian positions.
The fall of the former mining city would open the road to Kramatorsk and Sloviansk—the last major Ukrainian strongholds in Donetsk Oblast. But Ukraine’s counterattacks north of the city could establish a new defensive line against the Russian Center Grouping of Forces—perhaps 150,000 strong— in open terrain where Russian mechanized assaults have already failed repeatedly.
Capturing Pokrovsk has been the Russian command’s top priority for a year now. Defending it has been the Ukrainian command’s top priority. But the Ukrainians always had too few troops for the task.
Now there are hundreds of Russian infiltrators in the city center—and the supply lines to the embattled Ukrainian garrison are fraying.
“The fall of Pokrovsk appears inevitable,” the pro-Ukraine Conflict Intelligence Team warned.
But Ukrainian victories north of the city should temper any dooming. Pokrovsk is likely to fall, and soon. But Ukrainian brigades may be able to establish a new and stronger defensive line north of the city.
That’s because cities are no longer the key defensive positions they used to be.
“It has become easier to defend fields or villages than large cities,” French analyst Clément Molin pointed out. “Fewer soldiers are needed, the Russian infantry is quickly spotted, and the increasingly numerous obstacles (ditches, barbed wire) sometimes prevent progress.”
Read the rest at Euromaidan Press.
