Tough response to a particularly advanced Russian forces in Pokrovsk, they announced today, as Ukrainian troops reportedly repelled an unusually large Russian motorized attack inside the strategically important city.
Russian forces have been advancing for months in small groups of infantry, trying to capture the former supply base, which is a critical strategic objective in Moscow’s bid to capture the entire industrial region of Donbass.
Russia claims to have put Pokrovsk under full control. Kiev, however, maintains that it still holds the northern part of the city, where fierce fighting has been taking place inside the urban fabric for weeks.
“The Russians used armored vehicles, cars and motorcycles. The phalanxes tried to break through the Ukrainian lines from the south to the north of the city,” Ukraine’s 7th Rapid Reaction Corps said in a statement about the morning attack.
Mechanized assaults near the city. At coordinates 48.2762089, 37.1777032 (0:13) a logistics vehicle was hit by a drone.
Source:— Maxxim OSINT (@MaxximOSINT)
A total of 30 vehicles took part in the raid
A source from the 7th Corps told Reuters that Russia used about 30 vehicles, making the attack the largest of its kind inside the city to date.
The same source added that in the past Russia had only used one or two vehicles to support the advance of its troops. Russian forces were trying to take advantage of the bad weather but were pushed back, the unit said in a Facebook post. Footage released by the unit shows heavy vehicles in snow and mud, as well as drone attacks on Russian troops, explosions and burning debris.
Russian advances have increased pressure on Kiev as Ukrainian officials seek to reject a US-promoted peace deal proposal widely seen as favorable to Moscow.
In the neighboring city of Mirnokhrad, where Russian forces are attempting to complete a cordon, an operation to extend a supply corridor is underway, the 7th Corps added.
