Ukraine’s top military commander Oleksandr Syrskyi on Thursday denied Russia’s claims that Russian forces surrounded Ukrainian soldiers in the towns of Pokrovsk in the Donetsk region and Kupansk in Kharkiv region. However, he admitted that the situation is difficult in both regions. The British station Sky News reported about it, writes TASR.
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday, while meeting with wounded soldiers in a Moscow hospital, he declared that Ukrainian troops were surrounded in strategic Pokrovsk and also in Kupiansk, which is an important railway junction, and that the Russian military is willing to provide safe entry for Ukrainian and Western journalists to “see what’s really going on there.”
Recently, Russia has been using its significant superiority in the number of soldiers and weapons at these important points of the almost 1,000 kilometer long front line. According to the 7th Rapid Reaction Corps of the Ukrainian army, which is defending Pokrovsk, Russia has deployed around 11,000 of its troops in an attempt to encircle the city. Some of them managed to break into the city, the choir confirmed on social networks.
Syrskyj wrote on the Telegram network that he visited the Pokrovskoye region and met with military commanders there. According to him, Russia is increasing its activity in this area and has a numerical advantage. Moscow’s claims about the encirclement of Ukrainians in Pokrovsk, which the Russians have been trying to conquer for more than a year, and also in Kupiansk, however, do not correspond to reality, he pointed out.
“In Pokrovsk, enemy infantry, avoiding clashes, gather in urban areas and change their location, so the primary task is to detect and destroy them,” Syrskyi wrote, noting that the main priority is to preserve the lives of Ukrainian soldiers. “We are restraining the enemy by all available methods. We continue to work towards a common goal“, he added.
The US Institute for the Study of War (ISW), which monitors the war in Ukraine, said on Tuesday evening that Russian forces have advanced in the direction of Pokrovsk, but that they “almost certainly do not currently control any positions in the city itself”. However, this procedure is unlikely to cause an immediate collapse of Ukrainian defenses, the Washington institute added.
In the past, Russian officials also made claims about the capture of Ukrainian fortresses, which ultimately turned out to be false. reminded the AP agency. However, according to her, it is not possible to independently verify such a statement of any of the warring parties in a state of war conflict.
