Dima, 34, head of a tank unit in the 'Da Vinci Wolves' battalion, on the Pokrovsk front in Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine, June 4, 2025. ADRIEN VAUTIER/LE PICTORIUM FOR LE MONDE
Pokrovsk, a city in the Donetsk region, could become the first major Ukrainian locality to be captured by Russia since Avdiivka in February 2024. Russian forces have taken control of the North, East and South. Together with Myrnohrad, Pokrovsk forms a metropolitan area that once had a population of 100,000. The area remains a key logistical and railway hub that could operate as a springboard for Russian forces in the Dnipropetrovsk region.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky wrote on his Telegram channel that he was in the Pokrovsk sector on Tuesday, November 4, to visit several units defending the city. "This is our country, this is our East, and we will certainly do our utmost to keep it Ukrainian."
Russian chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov said on October 26 that "up to 5,000 Ukrainian Armed Forces personnel are encircled in the Kupyansk direction, and 5,500 in the Krasnoarmeysk [the Soviet-era name for Pokrovsk] direction." But open-source experts, including pro-Russian analysts, have refuted this claim. A corridor between one and three kilometers wide remains under Ukrainian control in the North of the city, indicating it is not fully encircled. However, the route is under constant attack by Russian drones, which target vehicles attempting to resupply Ukrainian units still positioned in Pokrovsk and Myrnohrad.
