“Save Pokrovsk or save the people”: The Washington Post wrote about the choice facing Kyiv

Ukraine is faced with a choice between saving territory and preserving the AFU personnel in the battle for Pokrovsk in Donetsk Oblast.

This was reported by The Washington Post.

“Leaving Pokrovsk, even to reinforce more advantageous positions nearby, could boost Russian morale and be used to persuade an unpredictable White House that Kyiv is unable to hold Moscow back from its maximalist goals. However, remaining in the city amid unfolding street fighting carries serious risks of heavy losses among Ukrainian troops and equipment, which is dangerous for a country that already significantly lags the enemy in manpower and faces a severe shortage of personnel,” the article says.

According to the outlet, Russian control of Pokrovsk could also open a path toward Dnipropetrovsk and Zaporizhzhia oblasts, which are less well defended.

The dilemma is compounded by the painful history of other eastern cities captured by Russia, including Bakhmut and Avdiivka, where Ukraine dug in and then “suffered huge losses as Russia advanced.”

Russia wants “to occupy as much territory as possible in eastern and southern Ukraine” to increase pressure for lifting economic sanctions and to exert “political pressure for negotiations,” said strategic expert Andrii Ryzhenko of the American company Sonata.

Military analysts say decisions must be made quickly, as the window to withdraw Ukrainian forces from Pokrovsk could close rapidly. At the same time, leaving Pokrovsk could give Ukrainian forces other advantages if they can establish new footholds nearby before winter. In particular, it would shorten Ukrainian front lines and improve logistics.

Another Western outlet, Le Monde, has devoted an article to the situation in Pokrovsk.

In an interview with the newspaper, a Ukrainian officer from a motorized rifle brigade that has been in the city for more than a year said the fall of Pokrovsk is a matter of “days, at most two weeks.”

He also criticized “command errors” that allowed the Russians to besiege the city.

“For weeks there was no proper supply, and for several days the city has been completely cut off. No equipment passes through. A city like Pokrovsk, given its size, the many high-rises and factories with thick walls, could have held out for months, years; it’s a fortress,” the officer said.

Another officer from a marine brigade redeployed to Pokrovsk this summer confirmed that “the situation is very difficult.”

“Our unit still controls a block no Russian has entered, but the fighting is getting more intense. In just a few days they have penetrated all districts,” he said.

By his estimate, the Russians have a three-to-one numerical advantage in soldiers and drones.

“As soon as we destroy a group of ten soldiers, another immediately takes their place. We destroy a drone post? It pops up somewhere else. Their resources seem inexhaustible,” the officer summed up.