Key town faces ‘multi-thousand’ Russian force, top Ukraine commander admits

BBC:

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.