NATO Official: Russia Controls 95% of Pokrovsk 0 13

Russian troops, continuing their full-scale invasion of Ukraine, control 95% of the territory of Pokrovsk in the Donetsk region. This was stated on Tuesday, December 2, by a high-ranking NATO official at a briefing at the alliance's headquarters, responding to a question from a DW correspondent in Brussels.

According to him, Ukraine is currently conducting an organized withdrawal of troops from this city, but there are still small pockets of resistance from Ukrainian forces in Pokrovsk.

Russia Aimed to Capture Pokrovsk Over a Year Ago

At the same time, the NATO representative reminded that Russia had aimed to capture Pokrovsk over a year ago, but this goal was achieved extremely slowly, and a large number of Russian lives were lost for it. During this time, Ukrainians were able to take the necessary measures so that the loss of the city would not have as great a strategic significance as it would have had if it had happened earlier, the North Atlantic Alliance added.

If Pokrovsk is completely captured, Russia will likely use it for logistics and as a staging ground for attacks on other cities in the Donetsk region, as well as a base for launching drones, NATO believes. However, the fall of Pokrovsk will not mean the imminent collapse of Ukrainian defense, which the alliance still considers unlikely in the near future.

NATO currently has no precise data on Russian losses during the capture of Pokrovsk. However, the alliance indicated that this year the Russian Armed Forces have lost about 360,000 soldiers, with Pokrovsk being the main focus of their offensive. Thus, it can be assumed that several hundred Russians are dying daily in this direction, the NATO representative clarified.

Kremlin Claims Full Capture of Pokrovsk

The day before, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov announced the full capture of the cities of Pokrovsk and Volchansk in the Donetsk and Kharkiv regions of Ukraine by Russia. According to him, this was reported to Russian President Vladimir Putin during his visit to one of the command points of the United Group of Forces of the Russian Federation by Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation Valery Gerasimov on Sunday, November 30.

On the same day, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported in its daily evening report that fighting is still ongoing in the Pokrovsk direction. The report also mentions fighting near Volchansk. There is no mention of the withdrawal of Ukrainian Armed Forces units to new positions in the General Staff's report.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky also denied the complete capture of Pokrovsk and Volchansk by Russian forces after a meeting with French leader Emmanuel Macron in Paris on the evening of December 1. At the same time, he emphasized that the situation in Pokrovsk and other directions "remains difficult."