Ukraine’s eastern operation command disputed the Kremlin’s claim that Russian forces had taken full control of Pokrovsk, the key logistical hub that has seen weeks of brutal fighting. Ukraine’s General Staff of the Armed Forces also dismissed Russia’s “boastful statements” about Pokrovsk, which “do not correspond to reality.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Monday evening that Pokrovsk had fallen to Russia, and his defense ministry released a video showing troops unfurling a Russian flag in the city.
“Search and assault operations and the elimination of the enemy in urban areas continue in Pokrovsk,” Ukraine’s Operational Command East said in a Tuesday morning update shared on Facebook.
“Taking advantage of unfavorable weather conditions, the invaders made another attempt to ‘flag-plant’ in one of the city’s districts so that propagandists could use it as proof that they had taken control of the entire city of Pokrovsk.
“After that, they fled in a hurry, and the mopping up of enemy groups continues.”
In a statement on Telegram, originally in Ukrainian, Ukraine’s General Staff said: “This is merely another attempt by the Kremlin to use a filmed ‘flag-planting’ for propaganda purposes aimed at influencing participants in international negotiations.”
Pokrovosk’s rail links are important for supplying Ukrainian forces. The eastern command said “additional logistics routes to Pokrovsk” were being organized “to ensure the uninterrupted supply of everything necessary to our units.”
“In total, in the Pokrovsk direction, our defenders stopped 72 assaults by the aggressor in the areas of Nove Shakhove, Dorozhne, Nykanorivka, Bilytske, Shakhove, Rodynske, Myrnograd, Novoekonomichne, Rivne, Pokrovsk, Zvirove, Kotlyne, Udachne, Molodetske, Novopidgorodne, Filiya, and in the direction of the settlement of Gryshyne,” the command said.
“According to preliminary estimates, Ukrainian soldiers neutralized 104 occupiers in this direction, 81 of them irrevocably. Eleven unmanned aerial vehicles and four vehicles were destroyed. In addition, two vehicles and one enemy artillery system were damaged.”