There is only silence in the streets of Pokrovsk. The same silence that took over Bakhmut a few months before his fall; the same feeling of emptiness that enveloped everything when walking through the streets of Avdiivka a little over a year ago. Pokrovsk has become a ghost town and yet people still live here 11,000 civilians who refuse to evacuate – despite the fact that russian troops They are less than three kilometers from their homes.
Before the summer, no resident of Pokrovsk thought that Russian troops could reach them. This city of Donetsk It was an important logistics center for the Ukrainian Army, due to its railway connections with the entire country, and its proximity and good communication with Dnipro. And here the medicalized Donbas Police and a large rescue and emergency device were based.
But after the fall of Avdiivkaand after crashing into Chasiv Yar Time and time again, Russia made the astute decision to move in this direction in August. He needed to continue phagocytizing Ukrainian territory in the north of Donetsk. And the move turned out well, because this advance was much faster than on other fronts.
In September, the Pokrovsk Regional Administration had to suspend civilian evacuations by train, because Russian troops were stationed just 10 kilometers away, and the railway station was within range of their artillery. In fact, the Kremlin It bombed other critical infrastructure in those days, such as the power stations and the water purification plant – which could no longer be repaired.
Since then, the security situation has deteriorated very rapidly without anyone being able to do anything to prevent it. Currently, the main avenues are heavily bombed, the sound of artillery does not rest day or night, and the intense drone activity poses an added risk for the population still there.
No invincibility points
Civilian residents of Pokrovsk go to collect drinking water at one of the distribution points installed by the city authorities
Maria Senovilla
Pokrovsk
In four months about 50,000 people have been evacuatedbut those who do not want to leave survive in difficult conditions: they have to collect drinking water in jugs – from several reverse osmosis points that have been installed in the city – and they queue up at the places where the volunteers who still dare to enter distribute bread and humanitarian aid.
Some neighbors complain that the authorities have not installed points of invincibilityas was done in Bakhmut or Avdiivka. But everything indicates that they have not settled, precisely, because Pokrovsk is going to suffer the same – bad – fate as the other razed cities, and the Government wants to force civilians to go to safer places.
“But where am I going to go?” he blurted out. Natalia at one of the water collection points. “We need invincibility points: we have no electricity, no heating, no internet… we are surviving on macaroni, we are abandoned people,” he lamented.
Many Ukrainians from Dombas They fear that if they leave their homes now – the only thing they have after a lifetime of work and sacrifice – they will never be able to return. And although many are already totally or partially bombed, they cling to the memories they treasure.
But the reality is that Russian troops have already occupied the town of Shevchenko – to the south – and are less than 3 kilometers from Pokrovsk. And although he ukrainian army reinforcements are being sent, they are not enough to replace the large number of wounded soldiers who leave this combat front every day.
Valentina, a resident of Pokrovsk, shows on her phone the photo of her house, which has been partially bombed by Russian troops
Maria Senovilla
Pokrovsk
Some wear bulky bandages on their heads, others limp – and with their camouflage pants cut off – because they have shrapnel lodged in their extremities, and many are treated for brain contusions that make them dizzy and vomit.
They are the living image of the most agonizing and desperate side of war. They are being evacuated to the neighboring city of Dniproand the only hopeful part is that most of them are walking on their own and do not have very serious injuries – because most of the Russian attacks are being carried out with drones, less lethal than artillery.
Drones have become the new weapon of war Putin. Its arsenal is very wide: from FPV to grenadier drones, including other larger unmanned vehicles such as the Shahed. And they are all combined in Russian attack operations, along with gliding bombs.
Ukrainian soldiers, wounded on the Donetsk combat front, are evacuated by the Hospitalliers medical battalion to a hospital in Dnipro
Maria Senovilla
Pokrovsk
“There are more and more injuries from drones on the line of contact, there are still cases of injuries from artillery and landmines, but we rarely see injuries from kalashnikovs anymore,” says medical captain Lawrence, head of the Hospitalliers evacuation service.
The Hospitalliers medical battalion is doing a large part of the evacuations from the Pokrovsk front and, in addition to pointing out that they cannot cope, they agree that the situation is similar to that of Bakhmut before it fell. “The hospitals in Dnipro are already saturated,” adds the captain while hanging up a call on his cell phone. He was just informed by telephone that there was not even a free bed left to transfer the more than 20 wounded soldiers he was evacuating.
The fall of Pokrovsk
No one knows at this time how long it can last. Pokrovsk. And everyone is unaware of another important question: how many men the man is willing to put there. General Syrskycurrent commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
Before commanding Zelensky’s Army, General Syrsky successfully led the defense of the kyiv siege in 2022; and also masterminded the successful Kharkiv counteroffensive in the autumn of that same year. But this general was also in command of the Eastern Front during the Battle of Bakhmut, and many Ukrainians blame him for the enormous number of lives he sacrificed there for not withdrawing troops sooner.
In the case of Pokrovsk, the decision will not be easy to make either, because losing the square would put kyiv’s forces in serious trouble when it comes to securing the defensive line beyond Donetsk.
The importance of Pokrovsk It is better understood with a map in hand: if we look at the road that connects the city of Donetsk – occupied by Russia – and the city of Dnipro, we will see Pokrovsk in the middle of the road. It is the last great bastion that safeguards the province of Dnipropetrovsk.
And the fact that Russia is concentrating a significant part of its attacks against civilian infrastructure in Dnipro capital – for months now – is not reassuring either.
Some Ukrainian voices have already been quick to say that the imperialist aspirations of Putin will not stop in Donbas, and that they could try to take part of Dnipropetrovsk – against the clock – before trump get into the White House and start taking action in Ukraine.
Although the Russian Army would have to advance at least 30 kilometers from Pokrovsk to reach Dnipropetrovsk – and that would not happen in a few months –, if Moscow’s forces manage to get closer they could harass some towns surrounding the city with their artillery, and would force the Ukrainian Army to position more countermeasures there.
He problem The thing is that the Ukrainian Army does not have enough countermeasures, nor artillery ammunition nor – worst of all – soldiers with which to maintain the front line, even if it is based on drones as it has been doing in Chasiv Yar or Kurajove for months.
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