Pokrovsk in Donetsk region is not encircled, although the Russians want it to be. Separate small Russian sabotage and reconnaissance groups penetrate the city and are destroyed there. This was reported to UNN journalist by Viktor Tregubov, spokesman for the Khortytsia operational-strategic group of troops.
The city (Pokrovsk – ed.) is not currently encircled, although the Russians want to create an encirclement around the city, but they are far from this ambition. They want to, but for now they still have a long way to go for that
Tregubov also commented on the situation in Pokrovsk regarding enemy sabotage and reconnaissance groups.
"Separate groups penetrated the city. There is a fairly wide front around Pokrovsk, and sometimes they manage to infiltrate. But we are talking about small groups that are destroyed directly in the city. We are not talking about any control over the city, we are not talking about any entry of troops into the city. We are talking about a few people who literally "crawled in", occupied a basement, and started causing trouble there.
Of course, it takes some time and resources to smoke them out, but there is no need to exaggerate it either," Tregubov said.
Context
On July 22, Andriy Kovalenko, head of the Center for Countering Disinformation, reported that the Russians were using small groups to break through to Pokrovsk due to the saturation of the front with drones.
Reuters reported that for months, Ukraine had been destroying thousands of Russian soldiers around the frontline city of Pokrovsk using small, bomb-armed drones.
However, Russian forces are now advancing in a summer offensive that has probed weaknesses in Ukraine's defenses, and last week some Russian soldiers entered the city for the first time, according to videos on Ukrainian and Russian Telegram channels and Reuters geolocation.
On July 29, Pavlo Shamshyn, spokesman for OTU "Kharkiv", reported that Russian occupiers were bogged down near Pokrovsk in Donetsk region. However, the situation there remains quite difficult.