Ukraine military says it has improved positions in several districts, while Moscow says its troops are enclosing in on Ukrainian forces. What we know on day 1,348
Ukraine’s top military commander said his troops were still holding out in the embattled eastern city of Pokrovsk, which Moscow said its forces were at last enclosing in a pincer movement after more than a year of fighting. “We are holding Pokrovsk,” Ukraine’s army chief Oleksandr Syrskyi said on Facebook on Saturday. “A comprehensive operation to destroy and dislodge enemy forces from Pokrovsk is ongoing.” Ukraine’s military said that it had improved its positions in some districts. Kyiv is raising the number of its assault troops in the area, the 7th Rapid Response Corps said on Facebook, adding that the situation remained “difficult and dynamic”. Capturing Pokrovsk, dubbed “the gateway to Donetsk”, would be the most important Russian territorial gain inside Ukraine since Moscow took the ruined city of Avdiivka in early 2024.
Russian troops thwarted an attempt by Ukrainian special forces to fly soldiers in via a helicopter into Pokrovsk, Russia’s defence ministry said on Saturday. All 11 Ukrainians aboard the helicopter were killed, the ministry said. Two Ukrainian military sources said on Saturday that Kyiv had landed special forces to fight in parts of Pokrovsk, as Moscow said its troops had surrounded Ukrainian contingents.
