Ukrainians warn of being surrounded as Russia advances in east

Ukrainian troops are now at risk of encirclement on the front line near Pokrovsk

The situation is critical, a Ukrainian military officer in the east told the BBC near the front line south of Pokrovsk.

Russia’s military strategy now appears to be surrounding the city, which is a key transportation hub in the region.

The officer, who preferred to stay anonymous, said his military leadership want to hold their positions at all costs, often leading to the loss of troops and resources.

That approach, he says, was resulting in a number of “cauldrons”, large territories surrounded by the Russian forces.

One of them is south of Pokrovsk - between Nevelske, Hirnyk and Krasnohorivka.

“We are not planning to advance towards the city of Donetsk any time soon, so why are we holding positions near Nevelske when we’re losing Hirnyk?” said the officer.

Far better to retreat to Hirnyk, he believes, with a minimum loss of resources and hold those positions.

“When your enemy has more people and resources than you do, this strategy is reckless,” the Ukrainian officer added.

“Look at the Donetsk region, it looks like a squid. [To defend all the] tentacles, you need a far bigger number of positions, observation posts. You need to hold back far bigger assault groups because the Russians are trying to attack from all sides."

So, instead of withdrawing and reduce the length of the line they need to defend, the officer says, brigades get wiped out fighting along the entire perimeter of the "cauldron" simply because the main criteria of success for generals is to hold positions.

Roman Pohorily, an analyst and co-founder of the Deep State map that monitors the latest frontline developments in Ukraine, says Ukrainian troops have now pulled back from the village of Nevelske to avoid an encirclement.

That means the threat of being trapped is less acute, but the military officer at the front says pulling back should have been done long before.

Lives and resources have been wasted on something that they couldn’t hold anyway, he argues.

Russian troops are now advancing towards Kurakhove, a city 35km (21 miles) south of Pokrovsk. Ukrainian forces in that area confirm the fighting in their sectors has intensified lately.

This development is also reflected in the daily briefings of Ukraine’s General Staff. On Thursday they reported that there were 32 clashes in the Pokrovsk direction and 48 in the Kurakhove direction.

“They’re trying to strengthen their flanks so that they can get closer to Pokrovsk, half encircle it and then start erasing the city to the ground,” says Maj Serhiy Tsekhotsky from the 59th Brigade.

Civilians are fleeing the area as Russian forces approach

Lt Col Oleh Demyanenko, who commands a tank battalion of the 110th brigade, also says that Russian forces are now pushing along the sides, in addition to a direct assault on Pokrovsk.

However, he claims that the Russians are now focusing mostly on the southern flank – that’s the Kurakhove direction.

Russian troops assault Ukrainian positions with small groups and often they’re not accompanied by armoured vehicles, soldiers say.

“They send two or three people who try to reach a certain point in the field," explains Maj Tsekhotsky. “Then others try to get to that point as well. And when they have 10-15 people, they try to attack us.”

What makes the Kurakhove area challenging both to defend and to advance is that it’s flat, says Nazar Voytenkov from the 33rd Brigade.

“We constantly shell fields. Russians lose their vehicles and people.”

He says his brigade is successfully holding its position on the front line.

Ukraine is fighting hard to repel the Russian invaders, but they are slowly making gains

Kurakhove is linked to Pokrovsk with roads that are part of the infrastructure to move troops and supplies on the front line.

If the Russians take that city, then they can go north to attack Pokrovsk from a new direction, says analyst Roman Pohorily.

Another possibility is that they might attack Ukrainian troops in Vuhledar from behind, he adds. That’s a city on the southern part of the Donbas frontline that the Russians have been trying to seize since the beginning of their full-scale invasion.

Strategic mistakes made in the past mean that there is only one way left to defend Pokrovsk and stop the Russians seizing the entire Donetsk region, according to the officer on the front line.

"To have another Bakhmut”, in his words, referring to the city in eastern Ukraine that Kyiv defended for nearly a year before retreating, with the city in ruins.

“[They] will throw a lot of people and let them die there.”