By Andrew Osborn and Anastasiia Malenko
MOSCOW/KYIV (Reuters) -Russian forces are closing in on the strategically important eastern Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk after capturing a string of villages to its south, and Ukraine has halted production at its only coking coal mine nearby due to the advance.
Here are some key points about Pokrovsk and the battle.
WHAT IS POKROVSK?
Pokrovsk is a road and rail hub in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, which had a pre-war population of some 60,000 people. While most people have fled, Ukraine estimated last month that up to 11,000 still remain in the city.
It lies on a key road used by the Ukrainian military to supply other embattled eastern outposts including the towns of Chasiv Yar and Kostiantynivka in the Donetsk region.
Ukraine’s only mine that produces coking coal – used in its once vast steel industry and vital for the country’s pre-war economy – is just a 20-minute drive to the west of Pokrovsk, and open source data shows Russian forces are less than 2 km (1.24 miles) from one of the mine shafts.
Two industry sources told Reuters on Monday that production at the mine had been halted. Its loss could more than halve Ukraine’s steel output, the steelmakers’ union has said.
Pokrovsk has since 2014 hosted an important technical university, the largest and oldest in the wider region. Damaged by shelling, its windows are now boarded up.
WHY DOES RUSSIA WANT POKROVSK?
Moscow says it has annexed Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region and sees taking control of Pokrovsk as an important stepping stone to incorporating the entire region into Russia. Kyiv and the West reject Russia’s territorial claims as illegal and accuse Moscow of prosecuting a war of colonial conquest.
Control of the city, which the Russian media call “the gateway to Donetsk”, would allow Moscow to severely disrupt Ukrainian supply lines along the eastern front and boost its campaign to capture Chasiv Yar, which sits on higher ground offering potential control of a wider area.
Squeezing the Ukrainian military’s access to the road network in the vicinity would make it harder for Kyiv’s troops to hold pockets of territory either side of Pokrovsk, which could allow Russia to advance the front line.
WHAT IS UKRAINE DOING TO DEFEND POKROVSK?
A Ukrainian military official said last month that Ukraine’s military leadership had replaced the commander overseeing defences in the Donetsk region where Pokrovsk is located.
That commander, General Oleksandr Lutsenko, had been criticised by Ukrainian military bloggers and some lawmakers for failing to stop Russian troops’ relentless push towards Pokrovsk. He was replaced by General Oleksandr Tarnavskiy.
Oleksandr Syrskyi, Ukraine’s top commander, has said his troops in and around Pokrovsk have prepared for the approaching Russians by repeatedly strengthening their defensive positions and he has spoken of sending new reserves, ammunition and equipment to bolster the defenders.
Russian forces have taken control of villages and settlements south of Pokrovsk and Ukraine says Moscow has been throwing everything it has at trying to break through while sustaining huge losses. Moscow says Ukrainian forces are taking serious losses. Neither side discloses full casualty figures.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy visited Pokrovsk in November where he spoke to troops defending the city and handed out military awards.
WHAT DOES POKROVSK LOOK LIKE NOW?
The blue and yellow Ukrainian flag continues to fly over Pokrovsk, but the city is a shadow of its former self, with no electricity, gas, heating or piped water.
Reuters footage published on Dec. 20 showed the facades of apartment blocks badly damaged, deserted roads, and some elderly residents being evacuated along with their cats.
Shell fire could be heard nearby, “dragon’s teeth” anti-tank obstacles had been placed on some roads, and a small shop selling groceries was operating on a power generator.
Many of those interviewed by Reuters said they refused to leave because they had nowhere else to go and few financial resources. Some, like shopkeeper Oksana Yarova, said they had returned after briefly evacuating earlier in the war.
(Reporting by Andrew Osborn in Moscow and Anastasiia Malenko in KyivEditing by Guy Faulconbridge and Gareth Jones)
