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Pokrovsk, a city formerly home to around 60,000 in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, is ground zero for Russia’s latest offensive in Moscow’s nearly three-year-old invasion of its neighbor.
Despite the Kremlin’s forces using every trick to try and break through Ukrainian defenses, Kyiv is grimly holding on to the logistically important town, Armed Forces of Ukraine commander-in-chief Oleksandr Syrskyi exclusively told The Post Sunday.
“The situation on the front line is really a tense one, where the enemy is carrying out a strategic offensive operation,’” he said. “They’ve collected most of the forces, creating domination in an attempt to breach our defense line … to capture the area.”
Despite Russian state TV and social media propagandists insising that Pokrovsk has fallen and Ukrainians are trapped, Syrskyi says the opposite is the case following a September counterattack that cost the invaders “about 13,000” casualties and allowed Ukrainian forces to clear more than 165 square miles.
“They continue to show this area on their maps as if it’s under their control,” he said. “This perception — that the enemy has got practically everything and they’re about to finish it — is not true.”
Undeterred, Moscow has sent roughly 150,000 troops — out of the roughly 700,000 forces on Ukrainian territory — in the direction of Pokrovst, with powerful mechanized groups and four marine brigades committed to the push.
Russia’s goal is to encircle Pokrovsk and neighboring towns from north, south and east, choking off supply lines and squeezing out any remaining civilians in its latest gambit to capture all of Donetsk, the commander explained.
As the Kremlin burns through funds to pay top dollar to enlisted men and mercenaries, some analysts have questioned how long Moscow can continue sending soldiers to die without resorting to conscription, which would be deeply unpopular and hurt Russian President Vladimir Putin politically.
“Our task is to see that their level of mobilizing people would be equal or less than the number of losses they sustain,” Syrskyi said. “They’ve been doing these active assault actions for two months without any material success.”
The Ukrainians have spent months building fortifications around residential townships to blunt the effectiveness of heavy machinery like tanks.
“There’s a difference between having to defend yourself in the open field or an urban structure,” Syrskyi said. “Our urban areas are able to hold off huge masses of enemy troops.”
Russian regulars aren’t all Kyiv’s forces have to contend with, as sabotage teams attempt to strike rear positions and communications and Kremlin information operatives work overtime to sow doubt at home and abroad.
“It’s really a challenging one,” the commander admitted. “There are ongoing battles and fights raging on. There are fast maneuvers carried out by the enemy all the time.”
In a sign of the importance of the battle to Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelensky visited the front lines near Pokrovst last week, telling reporters that Russian attempts to break through had “no success” but acknowledging that “things are not easy” for his own forces.
“Whenever the president comes … it’s always a strong boost,” Syrskyi said. “It gives more moral force for [Ukrainian troops] to better fight the enemy.”
To keep a foothold in the fight, Ukraine is relying on its drone dominance to take out key elements of Russia’s own lethal unmanned aerial networks: command-and-control sites, operators themselves and supporting infrastructure.
“First of all, it is necessary to destroy the sites from where drones are being sent and command centers,” said Syrskyi.
That, he added, demands good intelligence and long-range precision munitions: “Our artillery is forced to drop well into the rear to greater distances … so the importance of missiles is growing.”
Kyiv has also expanded its training program, with boot camp expanded to six weeks and new arrivals given mandatory crash courses in electronic warfare, anti-drone drills, and first aid, along with constant live exercises involving training drones.
Meanwhile Syrskyi’s requests to the world remains the same, with the commander calling for weapons, missiles, air defense and electronic-warfare systems to blunt the nightly deluge of Russian drones and aerial strikes on power plants, bridges and factories.
“We need missiles of different types, different ranges … powerful aerial defenses,” he said. “This is the highest priority for us.”
Despite the odds, neither brute force nor information warfare has produced the swift victory Moscow promised, and Ukraine’s doggedness has made Russia pay a bloody price.
“Our action,” Syrskyi said, “effectively altered the pace of the war.”
