The Army of Russia This Sunday the 13th, assumed responsibility for taking over a new location in the east of Ukrainenear the strategic city of Pokrovsk, an area where its troops have been advancing rapidly for several weeks.
The Russian Defense Ministry claimed to have captured the village of Mikhailivka, on the outskirts of Selydové. This last town, south of Pokrovsk, suffered serious damage after months of Russian bombing and most of its inhabitants fled.
Pokrovsk, where around 60,000 people lived before the Russian offensive, represents an important logistical crossroads for the Ukrainian military and is home to the only mine under Ukrainian control that produces coke, a type of coal needed to produce steel.
Its loss would halve the production of this metal, essential for the military industry and whose import is very expensive.
The President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskydeclared on Saturday night that the situation of troops in the east of the Donetsk region, where Pokrovsk is located, and in the south of Zaporizhzhia was “very difficult”.
