Russian occupants are trying to bypass Pokrovsk from the west through small villages and forest plantations and interrupt Ukrainian logistics chains. This was stated by the spokesman for the operational and strategic grouping of troops "Khortytsia" Viktor Tregubov during a telethon, UNN reports.
"They are trying to bypass the city from the west through small villages and forest plantations and try to put pressure, to interrupt our logistics chains. Our efforts are aimed at preventing this, as we have Pokrovsk itself, as we have this base from which to operate. Their offensive is slowing down and we hope it will eventually stop," Tregubov said.
According to him, the Russians are trying to cling to any building, any forest plantation in small groups and simply fortify themselves there and create appropriate fire control in front of them.
"Our task in this situation is to destroy them. In the Pokrovsk sector, the intensity of fighting is comparable to all our other sectors combined. There are up to 70 clashes per day. Even if one group is destroyed, another group tries to take its place," Tregubov said.
He noted that a small group is destroyed and another one is created in its place, and this has been happening there for quite some time.
"If earlier they used to go to Pokrovsk in this way, then they reached the distance where they started to get hit from the city itself and realized that they could not go ahead and started trying to go around it. This is the situation as of today," Tregubov said.
Addendum
On January 20, Serhiy Tsehotskyi, an officer of the 59th Separate Motorized Infantry Brigade named after Yakov Handziuk , reportedthat the Russian army was moving additional forces to the Pokrovsk direction, withdrawing units from other parts of the front. The daily losses of the occupiers in the battles near Pokrovsk reach two hundred people.
On the night of January 18, the Khortytsia Operational and Strategic Group of Troops reported in Telegram that the operational situation in the Pokrovsk direction remains the most difficult, there are no Russian troops in the city, and fighting continues on the outskirts of the agglomeration.