The Russians are already 8-9 kilometres from Pokrovsk. Novohrodivka in the Donetsk region is no longer ours.
Obviously, we will see the battle for Pokrovsk in the near future. Yevhen Ievlev, a Ukrainian soldier with the call sign “Sheikh”, who is in this area, says Komersant ukrainskyi
that he can already see the enemy on the outskirts.
“The enemy is approximately the same distance from both Pokrovsk and Myrnohrad. No one is indulging in ghostly fantasies. With a good Mavic, with a good zoom, you can see the enemy from the outskirts of Pokrovsk. “The Mavic can zoom in at 6-8 kilometres, just to see the silhouette. And at 8-9, you can already see the enemy’s equipment and movement,” Yevhen Ievlev
Thebattles for Myrnohrad and Pokrovsk will begin in mid- to late September, the Ukrainian Armed Forces serviceman said. It is only a matter of time before the enemy reaches them.
Ievlev does not want to believe that Pokrovsk will be surrendered, but the rapid loss of towns like Novohrodivka and everything that came before (including the village of Progress) gives the impression that no one is holding on to these settlements as if they were fortresses. Just like they did for Bakhmut or Avdiivka.
“There are many supporters of the idea that our command plans to hold out as hard as possible on the outskirts of Pokrovsk and Myrnohrad. I think that the enemy will not enter the city in the near future, but the fact that the Russians will come close and destroy the city is a real possibility,” Yevhen Ievlev
What does Pokrovsk mean to the military?
Pokrovsk is a very important city for supplying troops, equipment, repairs and for the guys who are in other areas, military expert Ivan Stupak analyses for Kommersant Ukrainsky. In particular, in Toretsk, in Chasovyi Yar.
“This has been a really key location since 2014. If the Russians get to it, it will raise a big question of supplying our troops. The defence of Donetsk region is divided into two parts: north and south of Donetsk region. And this is a classic military technique to cut the enemy’s defence into several parts and capture it in small pieces, which is what the Russians are doing,” Ivan Stupak
Another component that is not being talked about is that if the Russians manage to capture even 0.0025% of the Dnipro region, it will be a very painful loss for us, Stupak said. Then we may have to evacuate the city of Pavlohrad.
“Our military said three months ago that things were bad in the Pokrovske direction. You start laying paving stones and planting flowers, but we had to invest in defence. We see the same thing that happened in Bakhmut, Avdiivka, Maryinka and other towns,” Ivan Stupak
Ivan Stupak concludes that there are two possible scenarios for why money was invested in the improvement of the area rather than in defence.
“Either the local authorities were inept and did not understand the real situation, that the war was close, or the local authorities were well aware that this was the last budget of the city of Pokrovsk that could be used and “cut down” to zero. After all, no one will ever check how it was used, how much the roses cost, because everything will be destroyed by Russian artillery shelling,” Ivan Stupak
The military expert, in turn, predicted the battle for Pokrovsk in early September.
Who is to blame for the loss of cities in Donetsk region?
On the condition of anonymity, a soldier from the Pokrovsk sector tells who he considers responsible for the loss of territory in Donetsk region.
“Of course, there were thoughts that Donbas was being merged. But having understood more about the process, it becomes clear that this is more of a do****bism [direct quote retained – ed. In general, there are BCs, there is no shortage as such,” a member of the Defence Forces
The serviceman is convinced that it is necessary to start with the middle management, with regional departments, which report to the top that everything is fine. They say, as we are used to hearing, the situation is difficult but under control, etc.
“The Russians have already run 5 kilometres in the ‘difficult but controlled situation’ mode, starting from Avdiivka. No one wants to report the situation as critical as it is,” a member of the Ukrainian Defence Forces
The company commander is supposed to report to the commander that they have lost a position, but this does not always happen, the soldier says. For example, when they have already lost 4-5 positions, they may report that they have lost one that was in front of them. According to the anonymous source, the silence about the problems results in attempts by non-assault brigades and units to recapture lost positions. As a result, many of our guys’ 200th and 300th are in the slump.
“The loss of 200 square kilometres of Ukrainian land near Toretsk and New York is 200 per cent the fault of the regional departments and the brigade command in particular,” a member of the Defence Forces
on 26 August, at a meeting of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief’s Staff, it was decided to strengthen the Pokrovske direction. This was stated by Volodymyr Zelenskyi after a report by Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi. At the same time, Serhiy Tsehotskyi, an officer of the 59th Separate Motorised Infantry Brigade named after Yakiv Handziuk of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, assures that the Ukrainian army is not going to retreat from Pokrovsk, but will hold back the enemy’s advance. Moreover, a surprise may await the Russian occupiers on the outskirts of the city.
Author – Anastasia Fedor
