Ukraine says it’s still fighting in Pokrovsk
The Ukrainian military later told Reuters it was not only holding out in the northern part of Pokrovsk, which had a pre-war population of over 60,000 people, but was periodically attacking Russian troops in the south of the city.
“With its statement about the capture of Pokrovsk, the enemy, not for the first time, is trying to sell its desires for reality,” Ukraine’s 7th Rapid Response Corps of airborne assault troops said.
Russian analysts suggest it could strengthen Moscow’s negotiating position in peace talks by showing Russian forces are making meaningful headway in Donetsk (where Pokrovsk is located) as Putin presses Kyiv to give up the rest of the region, Reuters reports. Zelenskyy has rejected this.
Kyiv has suggested that losing Pokrovsk would not radically alter the battlefield situation and could only come at an enormous human cost to Moscow.
Russia has made significant advances in 2025 since it invaded Ukraine in 2022 тАФ but those advances have also come with heavy losses, Kyiv said.
Russian forces control more than 19 per cent of Ukraine, or 115,600 square kilometres, up one percentage point from two years ago.
