James LandaleDiplomatic correspondent, in Kyiv
Ukraine’s top military commander has admitted his soldiers are facing “difficult conditions” defending Pokrovsk – a key eastern front-line town – against massed Russian forces.
Gen Oleksandr Syrskyi said Ukrainian troops were facing a “multi-thousand enemy” force – but denied Russian claims that they were surrounded or blocked.
He confirmed that elite special forces had been deployed to protect key supply lines which, army sources said, were all under Russian fire.
The defence ministry in Moscow reported that Ukrainian troops were surrendering and 11 of their special forces had been killed after landing by helicopter, something denied by Kyiv.
In Saturday’s posts on Telegram, Gen Syrskyi said he was “back on the front” to personally hear the latest reports from military commanders on the ground in the eastern Donetsk region.
In a short video, Syrskyi is seen studying battlefield maps with other commanders, including the head of Ukraine’s military intelligence, Kyrylo Budanov.
It is unclear when and where the footage was recorded.
Ukrainian media earlier reported that Budanov was in the region to personally oversee the operation by the special forces.
The deployment of special forces suggests officials in Kyiv are determined to try to hold on to the town, which Russia has been trying to seize for more than a year.
Ukraine’s 7th Rapid Response Corps said on Saturday Ukrainian troops “have improved [their] tactical position” in Pokrovsk – but the situation remained “difficult and dynamic”.
Late on Friday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky stressed that the defence of Pokrovsk was a “priority”.
There have been growing reports of Russian advances around the strategic town to the west of the Russian-seized regional capital of Donetsk.
Images shared with news agencies late on Friday appear to show a Ukrainian Black Hawk helicopter deploying about 10 troops near Pokrovsk, although the location and date could not be verified.
Russia’s defence ministry said it had thwarted the deployment of Ukrainian military intelligence special forces north-west of the town, killing all 11 troops who landed by helicopter.
DeepState, a Ukrainian open-source monitoring group, estimates about half of Pokrovsk is a so-called “grey zone” where neither side is in full control.
A military source in Donetsk told the BBC that Ukrainian forces were not surrounded but their supply lines were under fire from Russian troops.
The US-based Institute for the Study of War said Ukrainian forces had “marginally advanced” during recent counter-attacks north of Pokrovsk, but said the town was “mainly a contested ‘grey zone'”.
Moscow wants Kyiv to cede the Donetsk and the neighbouring Luhansk regions (collectively known as Donbas) as part of a peace deal, including the parts it currently does not control.
Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, and currently controls about 20% of Ukrainian territory, including the Crimean peninsula Moscow annexed in 2014.
Pokrovsk is a key transport and supply hub whose capture could unlock Russian efforts to seize the rest of the region.
But Kyiv also believes its capture would help Russia in its efforts to persuade the US that its military campaign is succeeding – and, therefore, that the West should acquiesce to its demands.
Washington has grown increasingly frustrated with the Kremlin’s failure to move forward with peace negotiations – culminating in US President Donald Trump placing sanctions on two largest Russian oil producers and axing plans for a summit with President Vladimir Putin.
Zelensky has publicly agreed with Trump’s proposal for a ceasefire that would freeze the war along the current front lines.
Putin is refusing to do so, insisting on his maximalist pre-invasion demands that Kyiv and its Western allies see as a de facto capitulation of Ukraine.
Additional reporting by Jaroslav Lukiv
