Pokrovsk: guys are fighting, but first enemy tank has already rolled into city
"The war won’t reach here, will it?" a young woman asks in a Pavlohrad café as she makes coffee for soldiers of the 68th Brigade. Her anxiety is easy to understand: in 2022 she was forced to leave her home in Mariinka; a little over a year ago she realized Pokrovsk was becoming increasingly dangerous and moved to Pavlohrad. Now Shahed drones buzz overhead here every night — just two months ago, this city was not seeing anything like this volume of attacks.
More and more often, they arrive not only at night. "That’s how it was with Pokrovsk too," a serviceman says. "First, drones started coming in. The strikes kept growing. And then they began tearing the city apart with KABs and artillery. It’s the enemy’s classic playbook." But for now, Pavlohrad is still teeming with life. It’s the closest city to Pokrovsk where you can still find everything you need to live. Cars get repaired here, cafés are packed, and supermarkets are full of food. "But when the power goes out and it’s happening more often and for longer stretches, water disappears from homes too," the fighter continues. "In the private housing areas, if you’ve got a generator, the pump will run. But everything depends on how long the city is left without electricity." And right there, we see people carrying five-liter bottles of water. "That’s the first sign the front is getting closer — lines for drinking water," my interlocutor adds.
It’s 70 kilometers from Pavlohrad to Pokrovsk, which is still fighting on heroically. To another front, in the Zaporizhzhia direction, it’s almost half that distance. You don’t hear the horizon-line cannonade here like you do in Sumy, but the nearness of the war hangs in the air. You can see it especially in the soldiers’ eyes, because many have either come out of Pokrovsk, are getting ready to go in, or are supplying those who are staying in the city.
No matter who you ask about what’s happening in Pokrovsk right now, you hear the same answer: "The guys are fighting." What it means to fight in Pokrovsk, I heard in conversations with soldiers from different units, which will be published soon. There isn’t much optimism that the enemy can be pushed back and the city cleared. Because the Russians keep pushing into the city. Every day, there are more of them. For our units, the problem remains acute: there is virtually no way to deliver necessities to those who are staying in the city and to the south of it. Ammunition, pharmaceutical drugs, and water are dropped from large drones whenever there’s a chance. As one crew pilot who spent 80 days in the city put it: "I’ve never seen or imagined this would happen, pilots delivering cargo to pilots." But the worst thing, what tears at fighters and commanders most, is the near-impossibility of evacuating the wounded. Not to mention the dead…
The enemy is using every tool to apply psychological pressure as well. About ten days ago, a video surfaced of a conversation with two alleged prisoners from the 68th Brigade. Their surnames were given. When it was checked, it turned out there had never been soldiers with those names in the brigade. Our troops showed me another Russian trick: a video of a group of supposed Ukrainian fighters surrendering. That it was AI-generated is obvious almost immediately. One "wounded man" is riding in a wheelchair that looks brand-new and glossy. There’s no way to get something like that in the current reality of a devastated city. What’s more, it’s decorated with two little Ukrainian flags — also spotless and practically gleaming. And these supposed "prisoners" address the enemy with the word "brothers," which is not how our fighters speak. But not everyone can easily spot a fake…
I had heard and asked myself, why unmanned ground vehicles (UGV), which are being used on the front more and more, are not employed to rescue the wounded in this sector. But not all of them can cover the distance our fighters are from safe zones. Where they can, they are sent in with ammunition, water, and food. But to get them as far forward as possible, you need a position halfway with our soldiers who can replace the battery. There are almost no such positions left. Or they change so fast that you can’t predict whether our people will be there when needed. As for evacuation… I was given an example of how the guys tried to take out the body of a fallen soldier using a UGV. They secured the body to the robot and sent it out. Enemy reconnaissance drones spotted the moving vehicle and directed FPV drones at it, more than one… The body of the fallen soldier was attacked…
As far as I’ve learned, senior command has certain plans for defending the city and clearing it. I can’t disclose them, even though I don’t believe these actions will succeed. As the commander of one unit involved in these moves told me, "Let’s see what comes of it. There’s some calculation behind it. Maybe it will work..." Many officers think all of this should have been done earlier, two months ago, if not three. They reported that and said it at briefings. There weren’t enough people, not just to fight, but even to observe and keep control of the situation. It has long been clear: even though this is a drone war now, if there’s no fighter somewhere along the line, that’s where the enemy will infiltrate further... Right now, we can’t drive into the city, but we’ve already seen the enemy entering on motorcycles, UAZ "Bukhanka", and jeeps. Just days ago, our scouts spotted a Russian tank rolling into Pokrovsk from a UAV. When I asked the obvious question, whether it was taken out, I was told the weather didn’t allow it.
…We’ve all been living by the same rule for a long time now: wake up in the morning, live your best day; make it to evening with your home still whole, be thankful for the day you’ve had. You feel this especially in frontline cities. In a Pavlohrad restaurant parking lot, expensive cars nearly straight from the showroom parked next to army clunkers. Kids are bouncing around inside, celebrating someone’s birthday, while nearby men in military gear happily eat restaurant meals. Here, it’s as if no one notices the war or its breath. Or rather, they simply don’t let it steal this moment.
In General Staff reports, they write: the situation is difficult but under control. About Pokrovsk, it’s been time to say something else: the situation is difficult and not under control.
Violetta Kirtoka, Censor. NET
