Moscow (Brussels Morning Newspaper) – After a protracted campaign, President Vladimir Putin celebrated what his commanders told him was the complete Russian capture of the eastern Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk as a significant victory that would help Moscow achieve its larger war objectives.
Since mid-2024, Russia, which refers to the city by the Soviet-era name Krasnoarmeysk, has encountered strong opposition from Ukraine in its fight to seize Pokrovsk, which was formerly a vital logistical hub for the Ukrainian army.
Sources claim that Russia intends to annex the entire Donbas region, which includes the provinces of Donetsk and Luhansk, where Pokrovsk is situated. Kyiv and most Western nations reject Moscow’s seizure of the territory as an illegal land grab they have vowed to try to thwart.
What did Putin tell his military commanders?
“I want to thank you. This is an important direction. We all understand just how important,”
Putin, clothed in military uniform and posing in a command centre, conveyed to the army’s top commanders in a video released by the Russia late on Monday.
“It will ensure solutions going forward to the tasks that we initially set at the beginning of the special military operation,”
he also said.
With Putin scheduled to meet with U.S. President Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner in Moscow later on Tuesday, the alleged capture of the city coincides with the United States stepping up efforts to reach a peace agreement for Ukraine.
How will Pokrovsk’s fall reshape the battlefield dynamics?
According to the war experts, if the city’s collapse is verified, Moscow will have a platform to advance northward toward Kramatorsk and Sloviansk, the two largest cities in the Donetsk region that are still under Ukrainian control.
The capture of Pokrovsk, Moscow’s most significant territorial gain inside Ukraine since seizing the destroyed city of Avdiivka in early 2024, may improve Moscow’s negotiating position, according to analysts.
This is due to the fact that it shows significant progress made by Moscow’s forces in the Donetsk area at a time when Putin is requesting that Kyiv surrender the remaining territory.
What did Russian commanders say about troops engaging in cleanup operations?
Putin was informed by Valery Solodchuk, the commander of the Centre group of forces, that Russian troops were conducting cleanup operations against Ukrainian forces in the vicinity of Pokrovsk and the town of Myrnohrad, where he claimed that up to 2,000 Ukrainian troops were trapped.
Military commanders told Putin that Russian forces were advancing along the entire length of the frontline and had also captured the frontline town of Vovchansk in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region as part of efforts to forge a security zone.
Putin was informed by Valery Gerasimov, the head of the Russian military’s General Staff, that Russian forces were committed to seizing the entire Donbas region.
