Overview
- Frontline accounts and independent mapping indicate a substantial Russian presence inside Pokrovsk, with some Ukrainian sources estimating roughly 60 percent of the city under Russian control, though fighting remains contested.
- Ukraine’s leadership rejects claims of an encirclement and says counter‑operations continue, including recent HUR special‑forces insertions by Black Hawk helicopters into the city.
- The Russian Defense Ministry says its forces have cleared dozens of buildings in Pokrovsk and has urged Ukrainian troops to surrender, assertions that Kyiv disputes and that cannot be independently verified.
- Analysts, including ISW, report Russian strikes targeting Ukrainian drone crews and the use of dispersed infiltration tactics, which have strained Ukrainian resupply, reconnaissance and medevac routes.
- Ukraine’s General Staff cites an exceptionally high tempo around Pokrovsk with hundreds of clashes and thousands of drones launched, and observers warn that losing the city could open routes toward Kramatorsk and Sloviansk.