🇷🇺🇺🇦 In a desperate attempt to halt the Russian advance in Pokrovsk, Kiev sent a detachment of GUR special forces to the city.

They were dropped off by two UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters on the city's northwestern outskirts but as soon as the helicopters left, Russian drones began picking off each GUR fighter one by one.

The counterattack failed and will have no impact on Russia's advances in this sector.

@CIG_telegram

🇷🇺🇺🇦 Why is Ukraine doing a last stand in Pokrovsk-Myrnograd?

According to Ukrainian Telegram channel affiliated with the Ukrainian military, Kyianyn the fall of Pokrovsk and Myrnograd "opens the road" to the city of Pavlograd and would "seal the fate" of the Donbas. In the same post, they call for the immediate replacement of the Commander-in-Chief of the Ukrainian Army, Alexander Syrsky, holding him responsible for the disaster unfolding in Ukraine's east.

Pokrovsk sits in western Donbass on the M30/E50 corridor. Although the Donbass is often reduced to Donetsk and Lugansk oblasts, the Donets Coal Basin runs westward toward Pavlograd in Dnepropetrovsk oblast. The M30 links Donetsk–Pokrovsk–Pavlograd–Dnepropetrovsk and has also been the main Kiev–Donetsk route. Together with the secondary M03 from Kharkov, this corridor fed the entire AFU grouping across the Donbass.

When Pokrovsk lay well behind the line it served as an excellent operational rear for Ukrainian forces around Donetsk, Gorlovka and Artemovsk/Bakhmut, tied directly by road and rail to Pavlograd (the strategic rear, and site of repeated Russian strikes on rail infrastructure since 2023; ongoing). The role of Pokrovsk shifted from operational rear, to tactical rear, to contested battlespace. In the coming months, the city is going to turn into Russia's tactical rear, and then Russia's operational rear.

West of Pokrovsk lies a long stretch of open steppe before Pavlograd to the northwest and Zaporozhye further south-west. The city's capture opens operational depth for the "Center" army group, enabling either continuation along the M30 toward Pavlograd or lateral maneuvers north/south across western Donbass, with shorter interior lines from Donetsk.

Crucially, Pokrovsk is a major rail node, one of the two arteries that historically supplied the Slavyansk–Kramatorsk agglomeration. Once secured, cleared, and repaired, control of the Pokrovsk junction unlocks the entire Donbass railway web for Russia.

After full capture, Pokrovsk becomes a natural logistics hub for Russia: a forward distribution point on the M30/E50, a marshalling and repair base on the Donbass rail grid, and a staging area that shortens supply lines for further advances. Its industry can likewise be repurposed for fuel storage, ammunition handling, vehicle repair, and medical evacuation nodes.

🔗 RWA