Russian forces roll Mad Max-style into Ukraine’s east
Russia says its forces are advancing towards the eastern Ukrainian cities of Pokrovsk and Kupiansk, with a video showing Russian soldiers advancing towards Pokrovsk on motorcycles and even on the roofs of battered cars and pickup trucks.
Moscow says the capture of Pokrovsk, which Russian media calls the “gateway to Donetsk”, will provide a platform to advance north towards the two largest cities remaining under Ukrainian control in the Donetsk region, Kramatorsk and Sloviansk.
Russia has been threatening Pokrovsk for more than a year, trying to encircle it and threaten its supply lines using a pincer movement, rather than the deadly frontal assaults it used to seize the city of Bakhmut in 2023.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy described the situation around Pokrovsk as difficult, and his top commander, Oleksandr Syrskyi, acknowledged that his army’s situation in parts of the southeastern Zaporizhzhia region had “significantly worsened.”
Russian war bloggers published a video on Tuesday in which they say Russian forces entered Pokrovsk along a fog-covered road; Some Telegram users said it resembled scenes from the 1979 action movie Mad Max, unfolding in a post-apocalyptic landscape.
The video showed Russian forces on motorcycles and in various cars and other vehicles. Several vehicles with missing doors and windows were seen driving down a road covered in debris as soldiers looked on. Some Russian soldiers were sitting on the roof of a worn-out vehicle. A drone was seen on the roadside.
Reuters was able to confirm the location of the video as Pokrovsk by looking at the road layout, signs, power tower and trees seen in the video, which matched file and satellite images of the area. Reuters could not independently verify the date of the images.
In a post published on Telegram, Zelenskiy, who visited Ukrainian-controlled parts of the Southern Kherson region, described the situation in Pokrovsk as “difficult, especially since the weather conditions are conducive to attacks. But we continue to destroy the invaders.”
Zelenskiy also said Moscow was increasing its attacks on the southeastern Zaporozhye region.
Senior commander Syrskyi said Russian forces took advantage of foggy conditions to infiltrate positions in Zaporizhzhia.
“The situation deteriorated significantly in the directions of Oleksandrivka and Huliaipole, where the enemy, using his numerical superiority in personnel and materiel, advanced in fierce fighting and captured three settlements,” Syrskyi wrote in Telegram.
He wrote that Ukrainian soldiers were waging “exhausting fighting” for two villages northeast of Huliaipole.
The Ukrainian military said about 300 Russian soldiers are currently in Pokrovsk and that Moscow has intensified efforts to recruit more troops in the past few days. It was stated that Ukrainian forces clashed with Russian groups in the city.
Syrskyi told the New York Post that Russia is concentrating about 150,000 troops toward Pokrovsk.
Russia said it had captured 256 buildings, an indication of the intensity of urban warfare. His forces were advancing northwest and east of Pokrovsk and around the railway station.
Moscow and Kiev gave different accounts of the battle of Pokrovsk: Moscow said the city was surrounded for days, while Kiev denied that Moscow controlled it and said it was still able to supply neighboring Myrnohrad.
Open source battlefield maps from both sides show that although Kiev counter-attacked around the town of Dobropillia, Russia made a pincer movement around the city and was close to shutting it down.
Russia’s military says it now controls more than 19 percent of Ukraine, an area of 116,000 square kilometers. Maps of Ukraine tracking frontline changes show Russian control at 19.1 percent of Ukraine; This rate was 18 percent about three years ago.
