Soldiers fighting in Pokrovsk, in the Donetsk Oblast, told The i Paper<\/a> it was now only a \u201cmatter of time\u201d until the city falls.<\/p>\n The battle has followed an increasingly common Russian strategy to attack in small groups, attempting to wear down Ukrainian defences before a final takeover, soldiers and analysts said.<\/p>\n New FeatureIn ShortQuick Stories. Same trusted journalism.<\/p>\n \u2018Horseshoe\u2019 manoeuvre to hem in Ukrainian troops<\/p>\n One Ukrainian soldier<\/a> fighting in the area said advancing groups could be as small as two or three Russians.<\/p>\n Another said the troops approach Ukrainian positions in a horseshoe shape until they are almost encircled.<\/p>\n The Ukrainians<\/a> are instructed by senior leadership to remain in position until the final possible moment, he said, even if the position is largely destroyed.<\/p>\n @theipaper<\/a> <\/p>\n This is the grim reality of the brutal battle for Pokrovsk seen through the eyes of Ukrainian soldier fighting there. The city has become the epicentre of the fight against Putin\u2019s invasion. A Ukrainian soldier on the frontline said situation was now critical, and that it was only a matter of time until Russia takes the city. The i Paper\u2019s Global Affairs Correspondent Molly Blackall looks at why this battle has become so pivotal.<\/p>\n \u266c original sound \u2013 The i Paper \u2013 The i Paper<\/a> <\/p><\/blockquote>\n \u201cRussia is using small unit tactics because it\u2019s impossible to concentrate a lot of forces, not because they don\u2019t want to, or because they don\u2019t have the manpower,\u201d the serving soldier, who we are keeping anonymous for security reasons, told The i Paper.<\/p>\n \u201cThey push wherever they can. In some areas, where we have less troops or less resources, they have success. You will send 100 men towards 30 men. Some of these groups will make some progress. And you just push some more people there, where they have success. Those who stay will be encircled and attacked from the flank.\u201d<\/p>\n Dr Marina Miron, of the war studies department at Kings College London, said the tactics seen in Pokrovsk were different from the \u201cmeat grinder\u201d approach in other battles like Bakhmut.<\/p>\n \u201cFrom Ukrainian reports, the Russians are using three to four people on foot to infiltrate different areas across can establish footholds,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n \u201cThis tactic has been used quite a lot recently, and at least in official sources and some blogger sources from the Russian side, they\u2019re saying Russia has changed its approach to not do any frontal assaults in cities because it\u2019s costing too many human lives or too many soldiers.\u201d<\/p>\n The Russian approach has leveraged its superior manpower over Ukraine, sending in wave after wave of troops with little concern for the high rates of casualties, to overrun and exhaust Ukraine\u2019s defences.<\/p>\n But this has come at a high cost, with more than a million Russian casualties in the war so far, with at least 250,000 of those killed or missing presumed dead, according to western officials.<\/p>\n The Ukrainian military said today that 1,150,100 Russian troops had been killed or injured to date.<\/a> Ukraine keeps its own losses closely guarded.<\/p>\n It has bolstered its manpower by building \u2018Storm\u2019 units,<\/a> made up of men from Russia\u2019s penal colonies, who have been sent to the frontlines in exchange for their prison sentence being commuted.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t see the same degree of sacrifice when it comes to taking Pokrovsk,\u201d Miron said. \u201cBut generally speaking, wars mean casualties, and Russia is able to absorb those casualties.\u201d<\/p>\n Drone warfare<\/p>\n The battle for Pokrovsk also typifies the use of drones, which have become integral to both sides in the war in Ukraine to identify and strike targets.<\/p>\n Russia\u2019s defence ministry said that \u201coperational and tactical aircraft, backed by drones\u201d had \u201csignificantly disrupted\u201d Ukrainian supply lines in Pokrovsk.<\/p>\n The i Paper understands that some Ukrainian units have struggled to access food and water for temporary periods during the battle.<\/p>\n Chilling footage released by the Ukrainian military<\/a> shows Russian troops being tracked and closed in on by Ukrainian drones in Pokrovsk.<\/p>\n With the help of drones, Ukraine is pushing back against Russian advances in Pokrovsk and targeting them in nearby Dobropillya, which has successfully tied up Russian forces and hinder their takeover of Pokrovsk, according to the Institute for the Study of War<\/a>.<\/p>\n Last week, Kyiv deployed special forces to Pokrovsk<\/a>. It claims that Russia has amassed 170,000 troops on Pokrovsk\u2019s outskirts but denied that Ukrainian forces were encircled.<\/p>\n Attritional war forced on Russia<\/p>\n Sam Cranny Evans, an associate fellow at defence think tank Rusi, said that the Russian approach appears to be to twofold; to take territory represented by key urban areas and to kill as many Ukrainian soldiers as possible.<\/p>\n \u201cTo some extent, this is forced upon them because it\u2019s too difficult to pull a large force together and conduct a concerted offensive in the way that would be needed to break the front,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s quite difficult for either side to move around and change things quickly.\u201d<\/p>\n The attritional approach was not Russia\u2019s first course of action.<\/p>\n Putin\u2019s forces initially made large gains; after the first five days of the full-scale invasion, it controlled almost 119,000 sq km (45,946 sq miles) of Ukrainian territory.<\/p>\n Less than a month into the invasion, Russia had seized more than a quarter of Ukraine, according to the Institute for the Study of War.<\/a><\/p>\n But as Ukrainian troops were bolstered and the international community provided support, Russia pulled back from the northern areas and by mid April had given up about 40 per cent of the gains it had made.<\/p>\n On 11 September, Ukraine re-took 4,000 sq km overnight, the biggest push in a single day.<\/p>\n Since November 2022, the territory held by each side has remained broadly the same.<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cThe Russians tried to settle things quickly, it didn\u2019t work. It was a strategy that worked in Hungary, Czechoslovakia, and Georgia. But failed in Chechnya and Afghanistan,\u201d Cranny Evans said. \u201cWhen it fails, the tendency seems to be to double down and fight until the end.\u201d<\/p>\n \t\tYour next read<\/p>\n![\"FILE](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/SEI_272258947.jpg\")
Members of the White Angel unit of Ukrainian police officers who evacuate people from the frontline towns and villages, check an area for residents in the frontline town of Pokrovsk
(Photo: Anatolii Stepanov\/Reuters)<\/p>\n![\"In](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/SEI_273035605.jpg\")
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky recently visited the area and awarded servicemen (Photo: Ukrainian Presidential Press Office via AP)<\/p>\n![\"FILE](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/SEI_273430648.jpg\")
A Ukrainian soldier walks past damaged buildings in central Pokrovsk, in the Donetsk region of Ukraine, April 2025. (Photo: Michael Shtekel\/AP)<\/p>\n
![\"Article](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/PRI_206253230.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n