What Is The Significance Of The Fall Of Pokrovsk?
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How many lives were lost taking a small town. Being a Russian Bot, you must be overjoyed.
How many lives have been saved so far by NATO from all the free
money given to the most successful panhandler in world history?
Seems like Putin is still trying to take bits of land while Zelensky is busy targeting Russian infrastructure.
Zelensky wants Russian collapse.
As Pokrovsk is set to fall, Ukraine must choose to fight or save troops
Pokrovsk has been a bastion of resistance, and Russia taking it would be a propaganda win, but experts say it is time to withdraw and save lives for future battles.
November 6, 2025
6 min
Summary193
Ukrainian police officers check an area for residents in the frontline town of Pokrovsk, in the Donetsk region, on May 21. (Anatolii Stepanov/Reuters)
By David L. Stern
,
Siobhán O'Grady
and
Anastacia Galouchka
KYIV — Ukrainian forces are still battling desperately to maintain their foothold in the besieged eastern city of Pokrovsk, even as debate mounts over whether they should tactically retreat — a move that could save lives but also deliver a propaganda victory to Russia.
Ukraine has held out against Russia’s advance toward Pokrovsk for nearly two years and is more reluctant than ever to cede territory to Moscow as Russian President Vladimir Putin urges the White House to pressure Kyiv into a deal to give up the entire Donetsk region.
Leaving Pokrovsk — even to reinforce better positions nearby — could strengthen Russian morale and be used to convince an unpredictable White House that Kyiv is unable to hold Moscow back from its maximalist goals. But staying in the city as street fights unfold carries its own major risks of heavy casualties for Ukrainian troops and equipment, a danger for a country already vastly outnumbered and facing a major personnel shortage.
Putin would use the loss of Pokrovsk to “sway” President Donald Trump on “the inevitability of victory and the futility of aiding Ukraine,” said Mykola Bielieskov, a research fellow at the National Institute for Strategic Studies and a senior analyst with Come Back Alive, a Ukrainian nonprofit organization.
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Kyiv faces “a very difficult dilemma to navigate,” he said. As the military situation worsens in Pokrovsk, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and top officials needed “to think about troop preservation.” But, also, “politically, it’s difficult to withdraw from sovereign territories knowing that it might be a diplomatic boost for Russia.”
Russian control of Pokrovsk could also open a path to Russian advances toward Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk and Zaporizhzhia regions to the west and southwest, which are less well defended.
The dilemma is complicated by the painful history of other eastern cities Russia has seized, including Bakhmut in 2023 and Avdiivka in 2024, where Ukraine dug in and then suffered enormous losses as Russia advanced.
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Russia’s own massive losses were easier for Moscow to swallow, because of its far larger population that has made sourcing frontline troops much easier. Ukraine’s military faced criticism internally and abroad for not withdrawing sooner to save the lives of its soldiers.
If Pokrovsk falls, it will be the largest city to be taken by Russia since Bakhmut.
Russia wants “to occupy as much territory as possible in the east and south of Ukraine” to increase pressure to cancel economic sanctions against Russia and exert “political pressure on negotiations,” said Andrii Ryzhenko, a strategic expert at Sonata, a U.S. defense logistics and training company. “That’s why they are so active in the Pokrovsk region.”
But decisions must be made quickly, military analysts say, as the window could be quickly closing for Ukrainian troops to get out of Pokrovsk and the smaller nearby city of Myrnohrad.
Kremlin forces “appear to be operating with increasing comfort within Pokrovsk” and have “advanced in southern Myrnohrad,” the D.C.-based Institute for the Study of War (ISW) wrote in its daily digest of the conflict in Ukraine on Monday.
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Ukraine acknowledges that the fight is difficult inside the city, with Zelensky announcing last week that Russian forces outnumber Ukrainians 8 to 1. But he insists Russian reports that it has encircled thousands of troops are false and that Moscow had “no significant successes in the last days,” even while Pokrovsk was the “hottest front,” making up close to a third of all frontline activity. Five Ukrainian brigades and one regiment were involved in the fighting, he said.
“So, you understand it’s not easy for our guys,” Zelensky said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky decorates servicemen near the frontline city of Pokrovsk on Tuesday. (Ukrainian Presidential Press Office/AP)
Analysts say that leaving Pokrovsk could provide advantages for Ukrainian troops if they can establish new footholds nearby ahead of winter. Abandoning the salient would shorten Ukrainian front lines and improve logistics, said Emil Kastehelmi, an analyst with the Finnish Black Bird Group that analyzes the war.
“After a year of fighting on the Pokrovsk-Myrnohrad axis, losing the cities now would have limited effect on the broader operational picture. A Ukrainian retreat from the area doesn’t mean Russia would automatically gain momentum which they could capitalize on immediately,” he wrote on X, noting that Ukraine’s limited personnel was more important than holding territory at all costs.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/10/31/britain-royal-family-ruthless-prince-andrew/
As Pokrovsk is set to fall, Ukraine must choose to fight or save troops
November 6, 2025
“At this stage Ukrainian forces should be withdrawing rather than trying to stay in a collapsing pocket,” said Michael Kofman, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment who focuses on the Ukrainian conflict and recently visited troops near Pokrovsk.
The situation was looking “increasingly precarious,” he said, and “nobody is sure about how many troops actually remain.” Whatever the number, “at this stage of the war it is exceedingly difficult to extract forces under fire control of enemy drones.”
Ukraine’s military intelligence agency, the GUR, announced a number of operations to relieve pressure on troops and allow resupply over the past few days.
It is “unclear how much longer Ukrainian defenders can hold out,” Franz-Stefan Gady, a Vienna-based military analyst with the Center for a New American Security, said. “The pocket could collapse in the near future unless Ukraine manages to stabilize the front line and clear the city of Russian forces.”
Two major questions confront Kyiv’s military, Gady said: whether Ukrainian forces can carry out a tactical withdrawal and “extract its remaining forces without heavy losses,” and whether they can “establish strong new defensive positions north of the city to stabilize the front.”
Because of Russian airpower, Ukrainian troops “may have to wait for heavy rains and strong winds to limit Russian drone operations” in the hope of “reducing the risk of being targeted during the maneuver,” he said.
A pilot assembles a bomber drone for a nighttime strike mission against Russian forces in Pokrovsk on Sunday. (Maria Senovilla/EPA/Shutterstock)
The ISW said Tuesday that Russia’s campaign against Pokrovsk has been characterized by steady attacks on Ukraine’s drone forces to deny it air cover, allowing Moscow’s forces to slowly infiltrate the city. “Russian gains on the Pokrovsk sector have been in large part enabled by the Russian targeting of Ukrainian drone capabilities,” it wrote in Tuesday’s battlefield report.
The loss of Pokrovsk would be a blow for Kyiv, but it would not be a game changer.
“Taking Pokrovsk will help Russian forces expand one of the main axis of advance seeking to envelop the main remaining cities in Donetsk but it won’t lead to a collapse of the overall defense,” Kofman said. “Hence its fall and the overall impact shouldn’t be overstated.”
“In the end, Pokrovsk is just another sector,” he said. “What matters most is Ukraine preserving its forces and avoiding an encirclement there.”
Pokrovsk has been a bastion of resistance, and Russia taking it would be a propaganda win, but experts say it is time to withdraw and save lives for future battles.
November 6, 2025
6 min
Summary193
Ukrainian police officers check an area for residents in the frontline town of Pokrovsk, in the Donetsk region, on May 21. (Anatolii Stepanov/Reuters)
By David L. Stern
,
Siobhán O'Grady
and
Anastacia Galouchka
KYIV — Ukrainian forces are still battling desperately to maintain their foothold in the besieged eastern city of Pokrovsk, even as debate mounts over whether they should tactically retreat — a move that could save lives but also deliver a propaganda victory to Russia.
Ukraine has held out against Russia’s advance toward Pokrovsk for nearly two years and is more reluctant than ever to cede territory to Moscow as Russian President Vladimir Putin urges the White House to pressure Kyiv into a deal to give up the entire Donetsk region.
Leaving Pokrovsk — even to reinforce better positions nearby — could strengthen Russian morale and be used to convince an unpredictable White House that Kyiv is unable to hold Moscow back from its maximalist goals. But staying in the city as street fights unfold carries its own major risks of heavy casualties for Ukrainian troops and equipment, a danger for a country already vastly outnumbered and facing a major personnel shortage.
Putin would use the loss of Pokrovsk to “sway” President Donald Trump on “the inevitability of victory and the futility of aiding Ukraine,” said Mykola Bielieskov, a research fellow at the National Institute for Strategic Studies and a senior analyst with Come Back Alive, a Ukrainian nonprofit organization.
Follow World news
Follow
Kyiv faces “a very difficult dilemma to navigate,” he said. As the military situation worsens in Pokrovsk, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and top officials needed “to think about troop preservation.” But, also, “politically, it’s difficult to withdraw from sovereign territories knowing that it might be a diplomatic boost for Russia.”
Russian control of Pokrovsk could also open a path to Russian advances toward Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk and Zaporizhzhia regions to the west and southwest, which are less well defended.
The dilemma is complicated by the painful history of other eastern cities Russia has seized, including Bakhmut in 2023 and Avdiivka in 2024, where Ukraine dug in and then suffered enormous losses as Russia advanced.
AI Icon
Russia’s own massive losses were easier for Moscow to swallow, because of its far larger population that has made sourcing frontline troops much easier. Ukraine’s military faced criticism internally and abroad for not withdrawing sooner to save the lives of its soldiers.
If Pokrovsk falls, it will be the largest city to be taken by Russia since Bakhmut.
Russia wants “to occupy as much territory as possible in the east and south of Ukraine” to increase pressure to cancel economic sanctions against Russia and exert “political pressure on negotiations,” said Andrii Ryzhenko, a strategic expert at Sonata, a U.S. defense logistics and training company. “That’s why they are so active in the Pokrovsk region.”
But decisions must be made quickly, military analysts say, as the window could be quickly closing for Ukrainian troops to get out of Pokrovsk and the smaller nearby city of Myrnohrad.
Kremlin forces “appear to be operating with increasing comfort within Pokrovsk” and have “advanced in southern Myrnohrad,” the D.C.-based Institute for the Study of War (ISW) wrote in its daily digest of the conflict in Ukraine on Monday.
AI Icon
Ukraine acknowledges that the fight is difficult inside the city, with Zelensky announcing last week that Russian forces outnumber Ukrainians 8 to 1. But he insists Russian reports that it has encircled thousands of troops are false and that Moscow had “no significant successes in the last days,” even while Pokrovsk was the “hottest front,” making up close to a third of all frontline activity. Five Ukrainian brigades and one regiment were involved in the fighting, he said.
“So, you understand it’s not easy for our guys,” Zelensky said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky decorates servicemen near the frontline city of Pokrovsk on Tuesday. (Ukrainian Presidential Press Office/AP)
Analysts say that leaving Pokrovsk could provide advantages for Ukrainian troops if they can establish new footholds nearby ahead of winter. Abandoning the salient would shorten Ukrainian front lines and improve logistics, said Emil Kastehelmi, an analyst with the Finnish Black Bird Group that analyzes the war.
“After a year of fighting on the Pokrovsk-Myrnohrad axis, losing the cities now would have limited effect on the broader operational picture. A Ukrainian retreat from the area doesn’t mean Russia would automatically gain momentum which they could capitalize on immediately,” he wrote on X, noting that Ukraine’s limited personnel was more important than holding territory at all costs.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/10/31/britain-royal-family-ruthless-prince-andrew/
As Pokrovsk is set to fall, Ukraine must choose to fight or save troops
November 6, 2025
“At this stage Ukrainian forces should be withdrawing rather than trying to stay in a collapsing pocket,” said Michael Kofman, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment who focuses on the Ukrainian conflict and recently visited troops near Pokrovsk.
The situation was looking “increasingly precarious,” he said, and “nobody is sure about how many troops actually remain.” Whatever the number, “at this stage of the war it is exceedingly difficult to extract forces under fire control of enemy drones.”
Ukraine’s military intelligence agency, the GUR, announced a number of operations to relieve pressure on troops and allow resupply over the past few days.
It is “unclear how much longer Ukrainian defenders can hold out,” Franz-Stefan Gady, a Vienna-based military analyst with the Center for a New American Security, said. “The pocket could collapse in the near future unless Ukraine manages to stabilize the front line and clear the city of Russian forces.”
Two major questions confront Kyiv’s military, Gady said: whether Ukrainian forces can carry out a tactical withdrawal and “extract its remaining forces without heavy losses,” and whether they can “establish strong new defensive positions north of the city to stabilize the front.”
Because of Russian airpower, Ukrainian troops “may have to wait for heavy rains and strong winds to limit Russian drone operations” in the hope of “reducing the risk of being targeted during the maneuver,” he said.
A pilot assembles a bomber drone for a nighttime strike mission against Russian forces in Pokrovsk on Sunday. (Maria Senovilla/EPA/Shutterstock)
The ISW said Tuesday that Russia’s campaign against Pokrovsk has been characterized by steady attacks on Ukraine’s drone forces to deny it air cover, allowing Moscow’s forces to slowly infiltrate the city. “Russian gains on the Pokrovsk sector have been in large part enabled by the Russian targeting of Ukrainian drone capabilities,” it wrote in Tuesday’s battlefield report.
The loss of Pokrovsk would be a blow for Kyiv, but it would not be a game changer.
“Taking Pokrovsk will help Russian forces expand one of the main axis of advance seeking to envelop the main remaining cities in Donetsk but it won’t lead to a collapse of the overall defense,” Kofman said. “Hence its fall and the overall impact shouldn’t be overstated.”
“In the end, Pokrovsk is just another sector,” he said. “What matters most is Ukraine preserving its forces and avoiding an encirclement there.”
What Zelensky needs from Trump by now is not military aid any more.
Trump may stand a better chance to end the war sooner by offering Z
a villa in Florida.
Trump may stand a better chance to end the war sooner by offering Z
a villa in Florida.
Hey! Does this mean that Russia is only 2 weeks away from taking over all of Ukraine??
Like you've been telling us 30 times a month since 2022?
The Russian Vatnik TERB squadHey! Does this mean that Russia is only 2 weeks away from taking over all of Ukraine??
Like you've been telling us 30 times a month since 2022?
has been All Russia can do is bomb old ladies, women and children in their sleep with hypersonic ballistic missiles and Iranian designed drones. Fucking brutal, inhuman imbeciles.
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Speaking of easily calling bullshit on delusional Vatnik disinformation ...
Bet the Vatniks won't watch it before saying the authour is biased.
Others, who want more information to become better informed might watch this clear, concise reporting... without editorializing
you have yet to understand the glory of russian advancesThe Russian Vatnik TERB squad
All Russia can do is bomb old ladies, women and children in their sleep with hypersonic ballistic missiles and Iranian designed drones. Fucking brutal, inhuman imbeciles.
How about me admitting Ukraine is somehow winning by stretchingHey! Does this mean that Russia is only 2 weeks away from taking over all of Ukraine??
Like you've been telling us 30 times a month since 2022?
the conflict out to say the end of next year? More infrastructures
are to be destroyed, more lives lost and Ukrainians are going to
suffer through a harsh winter. No big deal. Putin is going to
pay a heavy price so long as Zelensky's sugar daddies keep up with
the flow of aid to enable further destruction of refineries and
infrastructures in Russian territories.
Keep cheering the war so long as there is no end in sight. That is
actually better than the war to be ended at this point. Just be
prepared to redirect the flow of free money to Ukraine back
to our military. We need the money to strengthen our own
defense against future invasion of Russia after Ukraine is gone.
Moral support of Zelensky alone should be sufficient to motivate
Ukraine to fight to the last man.
FFS...PUTIN'S RUSSIA IS THE ONLY ENTITY THAT IS "KEEPING THE WAR GOING" !!!
The Ukrainian people are simply defending themselves from a brutal invader that has stated over and over tat it is their goal to wipe Ukraine off the map and destroy the Ukrainian nation, culture and exterminate the kokhols .
Stop your pro-Russian spin stating it is the Ukrainians who are "keeping the war going".
Just say it... you want Ukraine to surrender, reward Putin for firing thousands of ballistic missiles, glide bombs and Iranian drones a week at sleeping pensioners, women and children in their beds.
And you want the rest of humane civilization to get out of Putin's way on the pre-text of minding our own business and not spending some relatively meager amount to help them defend themselves, and defang the evil Putin.
Just say it in plain, non-Vatnik, sentences.
For the majority of generous, brave, empathetic and principled Canadians, November 11 reminds us to "never forget" and "never again".
Russian soldiers beg to be sent to prison instead of being sent to certai death in Pokrovsk...
Some comments:
- "When you, literaly, have to force your own soldiers to go at gunpoint to the front lines, that is a sign that your army... is not going well. And the trolls can try to deny as much as they want."
-"Pushed into Pokrovsk at gun point. Such a Soviet way of motivating troops. Putin learned this technique years ago."
-"For a quick glimpse on what’s happening in the r*ssia , just check what they accuse Ukraine of doing."
Some comments:
- "When you, literaly, have to force your own soldiers to go at gunpoint to the front lines, that is a sign that your army... is not going well. And the trolls can try to deny as much as they want."
-"Pushed into Pokrovsk at gun point. Such a Soviet way of motivating troops. Putin learned this technique years ago."
-"For a quick glimpse on what’s happening in the r*ssia , just check what they accuse Ukraine of doing."
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