Thousands Ukrainians soldiers risk being surrounded in the Donbass region as their advance continues Russian forces in Pokrovsk.
“The Russian advance creates a dangerous situation that could become a deadly trap for several Ukrainian units of Moscow’s troops,” writes the American magazine Forbes. If Pokrovsk is captured, it could lead to the collapse of the entire Ukrainian front in Donbass, and Ukraine must absolutely prevent this from happening.
Strong Russian forces have now advanced to within a few kilometers of the strategic city, which is an important logistical hub, supposedly bypassing Ukrainian forces that control the line between the village of Memrik and the Vovtsa River. “With a few successful maneuvers, Moscow’s troops could cut off any possibility of Ukrainian forces escaping,” the American magazine writes. Even if Ukrainian forces manage to find an escape route, they will leave the Russians with almost 70 square kilometers of land.
LIVE – Ukraine: At least 40 dead in Russian attacks in Poltava
War within the cities
The Russians are taking more and more towns east of Pokrovsk every day. Russian troops have managed to break through the second line of defence. “We are currently witnessing a domino effect, albeit a limited one: the fall of one town threatens the defence of its neighbour. The Ukrainians retreat and the next town falls into Russian hands,” explains Austrian Colonel Markus Reisner.
The Ukrainian defense lines have already been weakened by the simultaneous attack on the Russian Kursk region, and defending the city of Pokrovsk is already a very difficult task due to the Russian superiority, he adds. “The Russians continue to advance and exert massive pressure on Pokrovsk. From Kupyansk to Zaporizhia they are attacking with a total of six large units. There are also two more near Kharkiv and Kursk. In total, 150,000 Russian troops are trying to break through Ukraine’s defensive positions. Russian troops are still some distance from Pokrovsk, but if they reach populated areas, some kind of civil war will break out.”
Similar situations have occurred over the past two and a half years, in the battles of Mariupol, Bahmut and Avdiivka. Ukrainian defense forces tried to ambush the Russians inside populated areas, but they responded with massive violence. One block after another was destroyed by artillery. This fate now threatens Pokrovsk as well.”
Ukrainian advance on Kursk halted
Western military analysts even say that the momentum of the Ukrainian offensive in Kursk has stalled. “Now we are seeing more and more Russian counterattacks. The problem for the Ukrainian defense is Russian air superiority and electronic jamming measures. Both are causing increasing difficulties for the Ukrainians,” Reisner says. In Kursk, as in Donbass, the Russians are adding forces every day.
“The successes of the Ukrainian counteroffensive in the Kursk region over the past four weeks are primarily propaganda successes,” writes Stephen Biddle, professor of public and international affairs at Columbia University, in American “Foreign Affairs.”
The American professor even doubts that Ukraine would benefit from a dynamic, large-scale strike deep into Russian territory. “History shows that precision bombing since the early 1990s in Yugoslavia, Iraq, Libya and Afghanistan has almost never had a significant influence on the course of the war.”
They could certainly boost Ukrainian morale, but they will not change the military situation on the battlefield. Instead, Biddle says, the West should carefully ask “whether a modest military benefit is worth the risk of escalation.” The American professor recommends that restrictions on Ukraine’s use of Western weapons not be lifted. Because, he says, “in any case, the outcome will not bring any decisive change” in the war.