putin may have abandoned the capture of Pokrovsk and set the army another task: ISW analysis
Kyiv • UNN
ISW reports on a change in russian tactics in Donbas, where Putin has ordered to focus on capturing territory instead of cities. Russian troops are 10 km from the border of Donetsk and Dnipropetrovsk regions.
russian dictator vladimir putin may have tasked the military with taking control of new territories in the east. An offensive on well-protected cities such as Pokrovsk could slow the pace of russian advance at a critical moment of the Kremlin's "geopolitical victory." This is stated by the American Institute for the Study of War (ISW) in its report, UNN reports.
Details
The report points out that putin is increasingly characterizing the advance of russian troops in square kilometers, instead of focusing on the capture of specific settlements, as he used to do.
With this in mind, ISW speculates that the dictator may have instructed the russian military command to postpone the capture of Pokrovsk in order to focus on further advancing through open fields and small settlements.
According to geolocation imagery available to ISW, russian troops are within 10 kilometers of the administrative border of Donetsk and Dnipropetrovs'k regions.
Capturing the rest of the Donetsk region is one of Putin's longstanding goals in Ukraine. And he is likely to emphasize the advance of Russian troops toward the border to make loud claims about russia's success in Ukraine to both foreign and domestic audiences
The ISW also believes that an offensive against well-protected cities could slow down the pace of Russian advance at a critical moment in the kremlin's attempts to project the inevitability of russian military victory on the world stage.
Promotion of the russian Federation in the Pokrovsk area
According to geolocation maps, in recent days, Russian troops have advanced south and within eastern Novovasylivka (southwest of Pokrovsk). According to a russian military blogger, Russian troops have advanced north of Novovasylivka toward Solone and Volkov and are advancing toward Kotlino.
Another Kremlin-linked russian blogger claimed that the Russian army had focused its attacks on Novotroyitske (east of Novovasylivka) and Dachanske (south of Pokrovsk) and forced Ukrainian forces to retreat to the Lisivka-Pishchane line (southeast-south of Pokrovsk).
The blogger claimed that russian forces were also advancing from Pustynka and Pushkino (both south of Pokrovsk) toward Ukrainka (southwest of Pushkino).
The ISW does not rule out that the pace of russian advance toward Pokrovsk may slow down due to a decrease in the combat capability of Russian troops.
Ukrainian military observer Kostyantyn Mashovets suggested that units of the Russian 90th Tank Division have suffered significant personnel losses and are trying to make further advances south of Pokrovsk and north of Kurakhove due to reduced combat capability.
Units of the 90th Tank Division took part in the capture of Avdiivka in February 2024 and have remained in various parts of the Toretsk, Pokrovsk and Kurakhove sectors since then.
"ISW recently observed geolocation footage of russian troops conducting a motorized attack using civilian vehicles east of Ukrainka, within the area of responsibility of the 90th Tank Division. This indicates that the division is probably also fighting to replenish the combat vehicles it lost at the front," the Institute for the Study of War believes.
Recall
russia is trying to hide the presence of North Korean troops in the battles in the Kursk region. the kremlin is hiding this fact in order not to admit the lack of personnel in its own army.
