Ukrainian forces have moved reserves to the area around the city of Pokrovsk in the Donetsk region to stop the Russian advance. Ukrainian commanders have sent up to five brigades to the strategic sector of the front in Donbas, Forbes wrote.
The inclusion of Ukrainian reserve brigades in the defense of the city located in Donbas Pokrovskaya averts the specter of the city's fall under the pressure of numerically superior Russian forces, the American magazine “Forbes” assessed in a Friday publication.
Despite the assignment of several battalions from about eight brigades to carrying out a surprise offensive on the Kursk region In Russiathe Ukrainians kept four or five brigades in reserve. Each of them had up to 2,000 soldiers. They also had hundreds of vehicles,” Forbes noted.
“Some of these units were eventually brought into combat along the last line of trenches and fortified towns around Pokrovsk and its key supply lines, which helped stabilize the situation,” the magazine reported.
Ukrainian soldiers in the Donetsk region Territorial Defense Forces South/Facebook
“The difference is obvious”
Forbes drew attention to the opinions of Ukrainian commentators who blamed the failures in the east of the country “on the lack of fortifications, not the lack of soldiers.”
“Not so long ago, public discourse suggested that deploying additional brigades in the direction of Pokrovsk would not make much difference. However, we see that this difference is now obvious,” noted the Ukrainian analytical group Frontelligence Insight, quoted in Forbes.
Pokrovsk after the Russian attack Vadym Filashkin/Telegram, Prosecutor's Office in Donetsk Oblast/Telegram
The American magazine stressed that “dramatic changes around Pokrovsk should not be expected at the moment.” “Ukrainian reinforcements are conducting small-scale counterattacks, the main effect of which is to slow down or slightly withdraw the Russians,” he added.
The independent Russian-language website The Moscow Times quoted pro-Kremlin bloggers who admitted that the Ukrainian army reserves had managed to stop the attacks in the Pokrovsk area. They described the Ukrainian units arriving at that section of the front as “quite well-equipped.” The Dva majora Telegram channel, which has sources in the Moscow Defense Ministry, wrote that “exactly what was expected is happening – the Ukrainian armed forces have launched a counterattack in the Selidov and Toretsk areas,” which is affecting the pace of the Russian offensive near Pokrovsk.
Loss of dynamics
The text noted that “the Russians cannot afford to lose momentum, because every day without an offensive is a day when the Ukrainians strengthen their positions.” “Fresh and well-equipped Ukrainian troops, however, have made the inevitable fall of Pokrovsk seem less likely,” Forbes concluded.
Main image source: Territorial Defense Forces South/Facebook