“The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reports 76 combat engagements along the entire front line as of October 28. The most intense battles continue in the Pokrovsky and Oleksandrivsky directions, where the Ukrainian military repelled most of the attacks of the Russian Federation forces”, — write: www.radiosvoboda.org
“Invaders are causing damage in the areas of settlements bordering the Russian Federation. The settlements of Bila Bereza, Yastrubshchyna, and Kucherivka of the Sumy region were subjected to artillery shelling,” the daily report says.
More than half of the battles were recorded in the Pokrovsky and Oleksandrivsky directions in the Donetsk region.
“In the Pokrovsky direction today, the enemy attacked the positions of our defenders 23 times in the areas of the settlements of Chervyn Lyman, Rodynske, Novoeconomichne, Lysivka, Novopavlivka, Pokrovsk, Zvirove, Kotlyne, Udachne, Molodetske, Dachne, Filia. Two clashes continue to this day.
In the Oleksandrivsk direction, our defenders repelled enemy attacks in the areas of Zeleniy Gay, Sosnivka, Verbove, Uspenivka, Novogrigorivka, Rybne, Pavlivka, and Vyshneve settlements. 13 out of 16 offensive actions of the enemy have been repulsed, three more clashes are ongoing,” the message states.
Fighting also continued in the South-Slobozhansk, Kupyansk, Lymansk, Kostiantynivsk, Gulyaipil, Orihiv and Dnieper directions.
On October 26, the penetration of Russian troops into Pokrovsk was confirmed by the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. According to the headquarters, there are about 200 Russian servicemen in the city, and shooting battles are ongoing.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyi spoke about the difficult situation in Pokrovsk in an evening video message on October 27.
The American Institute for the Study of War (ISW) writes in its report that both Ukrainian and Russian forces continue to advance in the direction of Pokrovsk, which emphasizes the changing nature of the front line in this part of the front. Geolocation videos published on October 27 show that Russian forces have recently advanced along Nakhimova Street in western Pokrovsk. Additional geolocation video footage released on October 27 shows Ukrainian forces attacking Russian positions in eastern Rodinsky (north of Pokrovsk), indicating a recent advance by Ukrainian forces in the area.
Pokrovsk – a city with a population of about 7,000 people until recently (more than 60,000 before the start of the full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation) – is an important road and railway junction and was under threat of encirclement by Russian troops for most of the year. According to the latest data of the local administration, about 1,200 civilians remain in Pokrovsk.