“Zelensky noted that no one pushes the military to “death for the sake of ruins””, — write: www.radiosvoboda.org
“No one pushes them to their death for the sake of the ruins. I will support our soldiers, especially the commanders who are there, in how they can control the situation … the most important thing for us is our soldiers,” he said in an interview with Bloomberg.
According to him, Russia is seeking a victory in Pokrovsk to try to convince US President Donald Trump that Ukraine must withdraw from all of eastern Donbas, consisting of Donetsk and Luhansk regions, to end the war.
“We cannot leave the east of Ukraine. No one will understand this, people will not understand this. And the main thing is that no one guarantees you that if they capture this or that city, they will not advance further. There is no restraining factor,” Zelenskyy said.
He notes that Russian forces “don’t have that much power” and are targeting Ukraine’s energy system as part of an effort to force Ukraine into submission by spring.
“They know that once the energy factor is gone, they will have no other strong factors left,” the president said.
Read also: Hold Pokrovsk: possible scenarios, feasibility of defense and risks
On November 12, the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Oleksandr Syrskyi, who visited the Pokrovsky area, stated that there is no question of the control of the Russian troops over Pokrovsky or the operational encirclement of the Defense Forces of Ukraine group.
In recent days, Russian troops intensified their efforts to enter Pokrovsk in Donetsk region using light vehicles through the southern outskirts, the press service of the 7th Rapid Response Corps of the Airborne Assault Troops of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported on November 11.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi previously reported that the Russian military command had engaged 170,000 troops in offensive operations in the Pokrovsky direction, but in October 2025 alone, Russian forces suffered a record 25,000 killed and wounded in the area. For comparison, the American Institute for the Study of War (ISW) recalled that Russian forces reportedly suffered approximately 15,000 casualties in the Pokrovsky direction in January 2025.
Pokrovsk – a city with a population of about 1,250 people (estimated by the local authorities at the end of October, before the start of the full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation – more than 60,000) – is an important road and railway junction and was under threat of encirclement by Russian troops for most of the year.