The situation is critical, a Ukrainian soldier in the east told the BBC, near the front line south of Pokrovsk.
It appears that Russia’s military strategy is now focused on encircling the city, which is a major transportation hub in the region.
The officer, who asked not to be named, said his military leaders want to hold on to their positions at all costs, often resulting in losses of troops and resources.
That approach, he says, resulted in a number of “cauldrons,” large areas surrounded by Russian forces.
One of them is located south of Pokrovsk – between Nevelske, Hirnyk and Krasnohorivka.
“We do not plan to advance to Donetsk city anytime soon, so why are we holding positions near Nevelske while we are losing Hirnyk?” the officer said.
He believes that it is much better to withdraw to Hirnyk, with a minimum loss of resources, and hold those positions.
“If your enemy has more people and resources than you, this strategy is reckless,” the Ukrainian officer added.
“Look at the Donetsk region, it looks like an octopus. (To defend all) the tentacles, you need many more positions and observation posts. You have to stop much larger attack groups, because the Russians are trying to attack from all sides.”
So instead of retreating and shortening the length of the defensive line, brigades are being wiped out along the entire perimeter of the “witches’ cauldron,” the officer says, because the main criterion for success for generals is holding positions.
Roman Pohorily, an analyst and co-founder of Deep State Map, which monitors the latest developments on the front lines in Ukraine, says Ukrainian troops have now withdrawn from the village of Nevelske to avoid encirclement.
This means that the chance of entrapment is less, but the soldier at the front says that the withdrawal should have taken place much earlier.
He argues that lives and resources were wasted on something they could not have saved anyway.
Russian forces are now advancing toward Kurakhove, a town 35 km (21 miles) south of Pokrovsk. Ukrainian forces in the area confirm that fighting in their sectors has intensified recently.
This development is also reflected in the daily briefings of the Ukrainian General Staff. On Thursday they reported that there were 32 clashes in the direction of Pokrovsk and 48 in the direction of Kurakhove.
“They are trying to strengthen their flanks so that they can get closer to Pokrovsk, half surround the city and then level the city,” said Maj. Serhiy Tsekhotsky of the 59th Brigade.
Lieutenant Colonel Oleh Demyanenko, who commands a tank battalion of the 110th Brigade, also says that Russian troops are now advancing along the sides and are also attacking Pokrovsk directly.
However, he claims that the Russians are now concentrating mainly on the southern flank, that is, in the direction of Kurakhove.
Russian forces are attacking Ukrainian positions in small groups and often without armored vehicles, soldiers say.
“They send two or three people who try to reach a certain point in the field,” Maj. Tsekhotsky explains. “Then others try to reach that point. And when they have 10-15 people, they try to attack us.”
What makes the area around Kurakhove so difficult to defend and advance is that it is flat, says Nazar Voytenkov of the 33rd Brigade.
“We are constantly shelling fields. Russians are losing their vehicles and men.”
He says his brigade is successfully maintaining its position at the front.
Kurakhove is connected to Pokrovsk by roads that form part of the infrastructure for transporting troops and supplies to the front.
If the Russians take that city, they can move north and attack Pokrovsk from a new direction, says analyst Roman Pohorily.
Another possibility is that they attack Ukrainian forces from behind in Vuhledar, he adds, a town on the southern part of the Donbas frontline that the Russians have been trying to capture since the beginning of their full-scale invasion.
According to the officer at the front, due to strategic mistakes of the past, there is only one way to defend Pokrovsk and prevent the Russians from taking the entire Donetsk region.
“To have another Bachmut,” in his words, referring to the city in eastern Ukraine that Kiev defended for nearly a year before withdrawing, with the city now in ruins.
“(They) will throw a lot of people there and leave them there to die.”
