The fight for Ukraine’s strategically important eastern city of Pokrovsk continued for the second day on Wednesday, with fighting going on between Russia’s 68th Mechanised Corps and the Ukrainian 7th Response Corps, officials confirmed.
“The Russians used armoured vehicles, cars, and motorcycles. The convoys attempted to break through from the south to the northern part of the city,” said Ukraine’s 7th Rapid Response Corps in a statement on Wednesday morning’s assault.
Russian forces were attempting to exploit poor weather conditions but had been pushed back, the unit said on Facebook.
Pokrovsk remains one of the most important port cities of Ukraine, which housed more than 60,000 residents before the fighting began. Capturing Pokrovsk would be Russia’s biggest prize in its neighbouring country in nearly two years.
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If captured, it would provide immense advantage to the Russian forces, since the city has hundreds of high-rises now empty, which the Russian armed forces can use for urban warfare.
If Pokrovsk falls to Russia, Ukraine may very well end up facing significant losses and defeat in the region.
According to officials, Russia has pushed infantry groups for months to seize the entire industrial Donbas region. While Moscow claims full control of the region, Kyiv says it holds the northern part of the city, where a fierce gunfight is going on.
Russia also aims to make a statement by inflicting defeat on Ukraine’s outnumbered and struggling forces in the east.
Meanwhile, in neighbouring Myrnohrad, where Russian forces are tightening an encirclement, an operation is underway to expand a logistics corridor, the Ukraine’s 7th Corps added.
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