Ukrainian troops have halted one of Russia's biggest offensives this year near Pokrovsk and are preparing for a possible defense of Kramatorsk. Moscow is seeking to take control of key cities in Donbas, but Ukrainian soldiers say they are not expecting orders to withdraw from the region, the Financial Times reported.
Recently, snipers from the 93rd Mechanized Brigade received an order to urgently return to the front in the Pokrovsk area. There, Russian troops have broken through about 10 km into Ukrainian positions. According to a staff sergeant with the call sign "Shepherd", in the event of further advance, the enemy could surround Pokrovsk and bypass the defense lines of Kramatorsk.
However, the strengthened reserves of the Armed Forces of Ukraine were able to stabilize the situation and even recapture several settlements north of the city.
Moscow demands full control over the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, but President Volodymyr Zelensky has categorically rejected any concessions, despite Donald Trump's statements about the possibility of a "territorial exchange."
The military emphasizes that Donbas is a key bastion. A 45-kilometer belt of fortified towns and settlements stretches from Kostyantynivka to Kramatorsk. “Behind it is open terrain where it is impossible to maintain a stable defense,” explained Dmitry Zaporozhets, spokesman for the 11th Army Corps.
According to monitoring groups, the Russians are trying to expand the front:
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entered the forests north of Slavyansk;
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approached Kostyantynivka from three directions;
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fighting is taking place near Kupyansk in the Kharkiv region;
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They are trying to establish themselves even in the Dnipropetrovsk region.
In Kramatorsk, fortifications are already being built: factories are being converted into defense hubs, anti-tank trenches are being dug, and houses are being prepared for defense.
Evacuations from frontline towns are taking place under bombardment. In Kostyantynivka, cruise missiles hit the city center as volunteers tried to evacuate elderly people. Suicide drones are shelling Druzhkivka, where humanitarian worker Tetyana Luhova, who had previously fled occupied Donetsk, was injured.
“ What does it mean to give away the Donetsk region? I haven’t been able to return home for 11 years ,” she says.
Ukrainian military admits: it is psychologically difficult not only in the positions, but also on the way to them. " On the front line, you hold the line, you are surrounded by comrades. It is a little less scary to die there than on the road under drones ," admitted "Shepherd."
