MOSCOW: Russian forces are close to taking the eastern Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk after a pincer movement almost totally encircled it while small groups of highly mobile Russian units penetrated the city, according to Russian military bloggers.
WHAT IS POKROVSK?
Pokrovsk is a road and rail hub in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region with a pre-war population of some 60,000 people. Most people have now fled, all children have been evacuated and few civilians remain.
It lies on a key road which has been used by the Ukrainian military.
Ukraine’s only mine producing coking coal — used in its once vast steel industry — is around six miles (10 km) west of Pokrovsk. Ukrainian steelmaker Metinvest said in January it had suspended mining operations there.
