For a time, Pokrovsk was a haven, a wartime Ukrainian boom city because of its strategic position in the east, 30 miles (48km) from the front.
Subscribe ► https://www.youtube.com/user/guardianwires?sub_confirmation=1
But that was before the summer of 2024, when a rapid Russian advance engulfed the industrial centre in a shattering conflict, a duel only now reaching its endgame.
The 18-month battle for Pokrovsk epitomises the current state of the Ukraine war: an attritional struggle in which gradual Russian advances have been made at extraordinary human cost. Though it demonstrates Russia cannot easily capture urban areas, the fight has also drained Ukraine, and consequences are emerging elsewhere.
Moscow published a series of videos on Monday that showed Russian soldiers walking around the city centre waving their flags, and claimed they had taken over the entire zone. Ukraine denied this, saying its forces still controlled the northern zone.
The Guardian’s defence and security editor, Dan Sabbagh, explains the ‘slow death’ of Pokrovsk in the Donetsk region – and what it tells us about the war.
#pokrovsk #ukraine #ukrainewar #russia #donetsk
