Russian Infantry Operating Inside Pokrovsk – Strategic Ukrainian City’s Fall Imminent

The key logistical hub of Ukraine’s eastern front – Pokrovsk, has been under steady contention for much of the past year, with Russian forces spending slow, methodical efforts pushing westward to flank just south of the city. 

For the majority of the war Pokrovsk has acted as the logistical hub and rear operations base for Ukraine’s eastern defensive lines. It sits astride both a key railroad juncture and the highway to Ukraine’s fourth-largest metro, Dnipro.  The city’s defensive positions are a final obstacle to Russia’s access to most of the region. If Pokrovsk falls Russian forces will be able to more easily flank entrenched troops in the north and south of the country.

It’s capture at this point looks imminent, given Ukrainian media is confirming Russian infantry have infiltrated the main logistical district of the city. It’s somewhat sizeable, as it had a prewar population of some 60,000.

“At least 200 Russian infantry armed with automatic rifles, machine guns, and hand-held rockets were moving freely in the southern districts of city, at times ambushing Ukrainian defense forces still generally in control of central and northern districts, according to public statements by army officers to Ukrainian media,” according to Kyiv Post on Wednesday.

Russia’s military has said that Ukrainian forces have been suffering steady and immense losses seeking to defend Pokrovsk.

“Every day, the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) sends up to 120 soldiers to the town of Krasnoarmeysk (Ukrainian name – Pokrovsk) in the Donetsk People’s Republic, which indicates its enormous losses in the area,” military expert Vitaly Kiselev told TASS.”

“The enemy still has a strong hold on the city, and has no plans of retreating,” he said. “They still have equipment and manpower here, all the more so that small units of about 15-20 men are being regularly sent there as reinforcements.”

“In fact, groups of 15-20 people arrive there five or six times a day. This shows enormous losses in this area,” the analyst added.

The loss of the primary rail lines and highway routes in and out of Pokrovsk would cut resources to Ukrainian units across the Donbas and possibly force them to retreat before running out of supplies. This would mean an immediate and sweeping Russian advance all along the eastern lines. 

2/ Ukrainian forces recently advanced near Kupyansk, Pokrovsk, and Hulyaipole and in the Dobropillya tactical area. Russian forces recently advanced in northern Kharkiv Oblast and near Pokrovsk and Hulyaipole.

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— Institute for the Study of War (@TheStudyofWar) October 28, 2025

Where Putin goes from there is hard to say, but a campaign back into Western Ukraine, this time using attrition tactics, would not be unthinkable – especially given the past months have seen incursions in the central oblast of Dnipropetrovsk which began this past summer.

Pokrovsk is, interestingly, valuable for another reason that’s not immediately apparent: It acts as high ground in a nation of lowlands, and high ground allows for more effective use of drones because the signals travel further and are harder to jam with electronic interference. While US-brokered ceasefire efforts have stalled, these developments give Moscow huge leverage if there should be a return to the negotiating table.