Russian forces roll ‘Mad Max’-style into battered Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk, video shows
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.
The Ukrainian military said about 300 Russian soldiers are currently in Pokrovsk and that Moscow has intensified efforts to recruit more troops using dense fog in the past few days.
‘MAD MAX’ VIDEO SHOWS RUSSIANS ENTERING POKROVSK
Russian war bloggers posted a video on Tuesday in which they say Russian forces entered Pokrovsk along a fog-covered road. The video, some Telegram users said, resembled scenes from the 1979 action movie “Mad Max” set 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 next to the road. 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.
RUSSIA AND UKRAINE GIVE CONTRAST STATEMENTS ABOUT THE WAR
Moscow and Kiev gave different accounts of the battle of Pokrovsk: Moscow said for days that the city was surrounded, while Kiev denied that Moscow controlled the city and said on Monday 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.
Ukraine’s top military commander, Oleksandr Syrskyi, said in an interview with the New York Post that Russia had gathered approximately 150,000 soldiers to capture Pokrovsk, and that mechanized groups and naval brigades were also part of this attack.
Russia said its forces had taken full control of the eastern part of Kupiansk in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region and were actively advancing northwest and east of Pokrovsk. Russia also said its troops took control of the settlement of Novouspenivske in the southeastern Zaporizhzhia region.
A Russian commander who gave the call sign “Hunter” and identified himself as being in charge of an assault platoon of Russia’s 1486th Motorized Rifle Regiment said his forces had taken control of an oil depot on the eastern edge of Kupiansk.
His forces also took control of a series of train stops along the railway leading to Kupiansk Vuzlovyi, a settlement about 6 km (4 miles) south of the center of Kupiansk, Russia said in a video statement released by the Defense Ministry.
Reuters was unable to independently verify either side’s battlefield reports due to reporting restrictions and the danger of the war zone.
Russia’s military says it now controls more than 19% of Ukraine, or about 116,000 square kilometers (44,800 square miles). Maps of Ukraine tracking frontline changes show Russia’s control of Ukraine rising to 19.1% from 18% nearly three years ago.
