Kiev [Ukraine], November 7: Russian forces have spread rapidly through Pokrovsk, the city in Ukraine's east where the warring sides have concentrated their manpower and tactical ingenuity during the past week, in what may be a final culmination of a 21-month battle.
Geolocated footage placed Russian troops in central, northern and northeastern Pokrovsk, said the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), a Washington-based think tank.
Russia sees control of Pokrovsk and neighbouring Myrnohrad as essential to capturing the remaining unoccupied parts of the Donetsk region. It set its sights on the city almost two years ago, after capturing Avdiivka, 39km to the east.
Ukraine sees the defence of the city as a means of eroding Russian manpower and buying time for the "fortress belt" of Kostiantynivka, Druzhkivka, Kramatorsk, and Sloviansk, the largest remaining and most heavily defended cities of Donetsk.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has demanded their surrender as part of a land swap and ceasefire he discussed with United States President Donald Trump last August. Ukraine has refused.
A recent US intelligence assessment said Putin was more determined than ever to prevail on the battlefield in Ukraine, NBC reported. Russia seems to have outmanoeuvred Ukraine by striking its drone operators before they had time to deploy, and cutting off resupply routes at critical points.
"Operational and tactical aircraft, backed by drones, significantly disrupted the Ukrainian army's logistics in Pokrovsk," said Russia's Ministry of Defence. It said it had destroyed two out of three bridges across the Vovcha River, used by Ukrainian logistics to reach the city.
"Unfortunately, everything is sad in the Pokrovsk direction," wrote a Ukrainian drone unit calling itself Peaky Blinders on the messaging app Telegram. "The intensity of movements is so great that drone operators simply do not have time to lift the [drone] overboard." On October 29, Ukrainian commanders reported only 200 Russian soldiers in Pokrovsk.
Peaky Blinders said Russia was sending as many as 300 into the city a day, "in groups of three people with the expectation that two will be destroyed".
By neutralising Ukraine's drone operators and using fibre optic drones immune to jamming, Russia reportedly acquired a numerical drone advantage in the city's vicinity.
Ukrainian commanders said Russia also took advantage of wet weather, which disadvantaged the use of light, first-person-view drones.
Ukrainian military observer Konstantyn Mashovets said the Russian command had developed these new infiltration tactics to exploit Ukrainian vulnerabilities - a lack of manpower and gaps among their units. "The Russian command 'tried different options' for some time," said Mashovets.
"Russian technical innovations, such as first-person-view drones with increased ranges, thermobaric warheads, and 'sleeper' or 'waiter' drones along [ground lines of communication], allowed Russian forces to . restrict Ukrainian troop movements, evacuations, and logistics," the ISW said.
Source: Qatar Tribune
