“Russian troops in Pokrovsk have cut off the road to Pavlohrad,” – said a military expert

Russian forces have managed to cut the road to Pavlohrad in Pokrovsk, Donetsk region, creating a serious threat to Ukraine’s defenses on the western approaches to the city.

This was reported by Ukrainian military analyst Kostiantyn Mashovets.

According to his data, Russian troops have advanced into the industrial zone in the western part of Pokrovsk and secured positions along the railway from Mezhova, effectively closing the flank of the advancing formations.

This, the expert says, poses the greatest danger to the entire Pokrovsk–Myrnohrad agglomeration. The distance between Russian positions in the industrial zone and the Krasnyi Lyman area northeast of Pokrovsk is now less than nine kilometers.

Within Pokrovsk itself, Mashovets writes, the Ukrainian Armed Forces (AFU) firmly control only the northern part of the city—the area north of the railway station—although even that area has been heavily mined by the Russians using aerial drops.

Fighting is ongoing in the city center and in the Sobachivka district, and it is currently difficult to determine who controls which areas.

Mashovets confirms that in Pokrovsk, Russian troops are not conducting classic frontal assaults, but are using a tactic of “covert infiltration” by small infantry groups of 5–10 soldiers, concentrating and attacking only when advantageous. This, he notes, makes the AFU’s defensive structure chaotic and complicates detection of these infiltrating units.

These groups operate between Ukrainian positions, often wearing civilian clothing, attempting to establish footholds in the southern neighborhoods of the city—from the Leontovychi district to the industrial zone.

To the north, small Russian groups have secured positions in the southern part of Rodynske (around Kantemirova and Yuzhna streets). On the southern approaches, along the Chunyshyne–Novopavlivka line, Russian forward units have reportedly linked their flanks and advanced into the Solnechnyi and Shakhtarskyi areas in the southern part of Pokrovsk.

Thus, Mashovets writes, Russia’s 2nd Army has achieved significant tactical gains in recent weeks, advancing in the southern and western parts of the city.

The expert emphasizes that there are no grounds yet to speak of a full encirclement of Ukrainian forces in Pokrovsk and Myrnohrad. However, the threat of encirclement is becoming real—Russian troops would only need to advance about nine more kilometers to the northeast to complete it. In his assessment, the battle for the Pokrovsk–Myrnohrad area is entering a decisive phase.

As a reminder, President Vladimir Putin said yesterday that Ukrainian forces near Pokrovsk had been encircled. The Ukrainian General Staff confirmed Russian penetration into the city but denied claims of full encirclement.