Russian offensive near Pokrovsk slowing down, media reports

Russian forces have captured considerably less territory in the Pokrovsk direction over the past week than during earlier periods, the independent Russian outlet Agentstvo reported on Sept. 7.
Citing data from defense analysts, Agentstvo backed Ukraine’s Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi’s recent claims that Moscow’s push near the key town is losing steam.
Ukrainian officials have described Pokrovsk as the most difficult sector of the front. Russia has deployed experienced troops in an effort to capture this crucial logistics hub.
The crowd-sourced Ukrainian monitoring site DeepState reported that over the past week, Russian forces had captured only 10 square kilometers (4 square miles) near Pokrovsk.
This is a sharp drop compared to the 73 square kilometers (28 square miles) reportedly seized between Aug. 26 and Sept. 1 and 59 kilometers (23 square miles) in each of the two preceding weeks.
The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) also wrote that according to geolocated footage, Ukraine was able to regain some ground near the villages of Mykhailivka and Halytsynivka, lying roughly 20 and 30 kilometers southeast of Pokrovsk, respectively.
The Russian Defense Ministry reported capturing four settlements near Pokrovsk over the past week – Zhuravka, Skuchne, Karlovka, and Zavitne – while it claimed to have captured five settlements a week earlier.
The claims could not be independently verified.
Speaking to CNN in an interview published on Sept. 5, Syrskyi said that Russia’s advance in the Pokrovsk direction had been halted in the past six days.
The general linked this to Ukraine’s incursion into Russia’s Kursk Oblast, which was designed to divert Russian forces from Pokrovsk and other hot sectors in Donetsk Oblast.
“In other words, our strategy is working,” Syrskyi added.
President Volodymyr Zelensky was more cautious, saying it is far too early to say that the situation near Pokrovsk has been stabilized.
Speaking to journalists in Italy, Zelensky said that the battlefield situation in the area “is definitely not easy,” even though it has improved over the past three to four days.
The president claimed already back on Aug. 27 that Russia’s advance toward Pokrovsk had slowed down thanks to the Kursk incursion, while other sources contradicted this statement at the time.
After weeks of losing ground to Russia in Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine also celebrated tactical success in the Toretsk sector, regaining some ground in Niu-York. In turn, Russia has ramped up attacks against the town of Vuhledar in southern Donetsk Oblast.