Russian army disaster as Ukraine wipes out over 20,000 soldiers monthly | World | News
Russian forces are suffering catastrophic losses as they fight to gain control of Pokrovsk and Donbas. Vladimir Putin’s forces are closing in on the strategically important eastern city after 21 months of fierce fighting.
Pokrovsk is seen as the “gateway” to Donetsk, one of the two regions that make up Donbas. Its capture would be a major blow to Kyiv, whose forces were desperately resisting. The city is a key logistics and transportation hub for the Ukrainian military on the eastern axis, and its fall could weaken Kiev’s ability to defend the rest of the territory it controls in the Donetsk region.
If Pokrovsk falls to Putin’s troops, fortress cities such as Kramatorsk and Slovyansk will become more vulnerable.
Ukraine sent special forces units to the besieged city to strengthen its defenses and push back Russian soldiers who had infiltrated the center of the city.
The Kremlin is desperate to capture the city, which it planned to do a year ago. Putin’s commanders are pouring wave after wave of soldiers and armored units into the city, but they are paying a high price in terms of casualties.
DR. Jack Watling, a defense expert at the Royal United Services think tank, estimates that Russia is losing more than 20,000 soldiers a month in the Donbas defense line.
“Russia had planned to capture the Ukrainian town of Pokrovsk, a logistics center in the Donetsk region, by November 2024,” he wrote in his latest article for Foreign Affairs.
“Their forces are a year behind schedule. Despite being vastly outnumbered, Ukrainian defenders fought doggedly to retain the Donbas defense line, killing more than 20,000 soldiers a month in the process.
“Now Russia appears on the verge of consolidating its control over the ruins of the town, as it pushes more and more troops into Pokrovsk’s shattered buildings and Russian drones cut off supplies to Ukrainian defenders.”
Ukraine’s military chief Oleksander Syrskyi insists that the fight for the city is not over yet and that the Russian army has not captured the city.
“There is no Russian control over the city of Pokrovsk or an operational encirclement of Ukrainian defense forces in the area,” he said on Thursday.
US think tank the Institute for the Study of War believes the city’s fall is imminent.
“Russian forces will likely capture Pokrovsk and Myrnohrad, but doing so will likely take more time and incur more casualties,” analysts wrote in their daily bulletin on Thursday.
