Russian forces less than 2 miles from key Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk

By Sophie Tanno, Kostyantyn Hak and Darya Tarasova-Markina, CNN

(CNN) — Russian forces are now just three kilometers (1.9 miles) from the outskirts of the key eastern Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk after making advances Wednesday, according to Ukrainian mapping service DeepState. They have also destroyed or captured Ukrainian positions near the city, a Ukrainian army spokesperson said.

“The enemy attacked our fortifications in the Pokrovsk sector west of Vidrodzennia village, south of Novotroitske and, as a result of prolonged fighting, two of our positions were destroyed and one was lost,” Ukrainian military spokesperson Nazar Voloshyn said in televised comments.

Voloshyn added that fighting is ongoing on the outskirts of Shevchenkove, a village in Kharkiv region on Ukraine’s eastern front. Ukrainian military bloggers have reported that the village has fallen to the Russians, a claim that has not been confirmed by Ukrainian or Russian officials.

Data from DeepState, a Ukrainian monitoring group and mapping service, showed Russian soldiers just three kilometers from the southern outskirts of Pokrovsk Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian gas supply regulator Donetskoblgaz has warned that Pokrovsk will be cut off from gas supplies from Thursday due to the “worsening situation.”

“Due to significant damage to gas pipelines and constant hostile attacks, it is impossible to eliminate the consequences of hostilities on the gas distribution system and restore gas supply to customers,” Donetskoblgaz said in a statement Tuesday.

For months, Pokrovsk has been the site of some of the fiercest battles on the eastern front as Russia attempts to close in on the city. It lies around 11 miles from Ukraine’s Donetsk and Dnipropetrovsk regions and is a strategic target for Moscow. Russian President Vladimir Putin has made it clear that his goal is to seize the eastern Ukrainian regions of Donetsk and Luhansk.

Although not a major city – Pokrovsk had a population of around 60,000 before the war and many have now left since Russia’s full-scale invasion – it sits on a key supply road that connects it with military hubs. It forms the backbone of Ukrainian defenses in the part of Donetsk region that is still under Kyiv’s control. There are currently 11,000 people in Pokrovsk, according to local authorities.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky visited the embattled city in November and met troops defending the city. In a video posted on his social media, Zelensky is seen shaking hands with soldiers and presenting them with awards.

“This is a tense and challenging direction,” he said at the time. “It is only thanks to the strength of our warriors that the east has not been completely occupied by Russia. The enemy is confronted every day.”

The fall of Pokrovsk to Moscow’s forces would mark the largest setback for Ukraine in months and come as Ukraine has struggled to get off the backfoot while Russian troops pile severe pressure on the eastern front lines.

A looming Donald Trump presidency in the United States has raised the risk that military aid from Ukraine’s largest source could stop flowing as the conflict grinds well into its second year.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced a $725 million aid package to Ukraine Monday, as the Biden administration rushes to bolster Kyiv in its remaining time in office.

Russia vows response to alleged ‘ATACMS’ attack

Elsewhere in Russia’s war on Ukraine, Moscow on Wednesday vowed to respond to a Ukrainian attack on a southwestern Russian city that it claims involved six American-made ATACMS ballistic missiles.

The six long-range missiles were launched at the port city of Taganrog in the Rostov region in a morning attack that injured Russian military personnel, according to the Russian Ministry of Defense.

Ukraine has acknowledged making “tangible hits on Russian targets,” including military and energy facilities, but has not said what type of missiles were used.

In a statement on Telegram Wednesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky appeared to allude to the attack, saying, “This is exactly the kind of range and accuracy that brings Russia back to reality step by step – to the reality that the war needs to end.”

Russia’s warning comes just weeks after it fired a new type of hypersonic ballistic missile – the “Oreshnik” – at Ukraine in what it said was a response to Kyiv’s use of long-range American and British weapons.

In Wednesday’s attack, according to Moscow, Russian air defenses shot down two of the missiles, while electronic warfare equipment deflected the others.

However, the ministry said Russian military personnel were injured by falling fragments of the missiles, without specifying how many.

There was also minor damage to two buildings on the site of an airfield and three military vehicles, as well as civilian cars in a parking lot nearby, it said.

The ministry said it had “reliably established” that American-made ATACMS were used in the attack, and vowed retaliation, warning that the use of long-range Western weaponry would not go unpunished.

“Appropriate measures will be taken,” the ministry said.

A US official warned on Wednesday that Russia could launch another Oreshnik missile at Ukraine in the coming days, according to Reuters.

CNN’s Ivana Kottasová, Jennifer Hansler and Haley Britzky contributed to this report.

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