According to Reuters, Russia is attacking the strategic city of Pokrovsk to cut off supply lines
KYIV (Reuters) – Russian forces continue to launch attacks near the Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk in an attempt to bypass it from the south and cut off supply routes for Ukrainian troops, the Ukrainian military said on Saturday.
Capturing the road and rail hub in the eastern Donetsk region could cause serious difficulties for the Ukrainian army on the Eastern Front and also allow Russia to reinforce and advance its front line to the west.
“The Pokrovsk direction remains the hottest and there the Russians have attacked 34 times (in the last 24 hours) and tried to break through our defenses south of Pokrovsk,” Viktor Trehubov, spokesman for the Ukrainian Khortytsia group, told Ukrainian national television.
The city, home to a mine that is the sole supplier of coking coal to Ukraine’s once-giant steel industry, was home to about 60,000 people before the war. Ukraine estimates that around 11,000 of them still live in the city.
Trehubov said Russian forces were trying to block supply routes by sending small groups of soldiers to settlements south of Pokrovsk.
“They (the Russians) don’t go directly into the city because that means heavy urban fighting. So first they try to bypass the city and break the logistics chains,” Trehubov said.
He said Kiev forces would use drones and precision weapons to prevent Russian troops from reaching their targets.
