“Almost half of the battles took place in the Pokrovsky direction. Here, during the day, the enemy tried to advance 27 times”, — write: www.radiosvoboda.org
Almost half of the battles took place in the Pokrovsky direction. Here, during the day, the enemy tried 27 times to advance to Ukrainian positions near the settlements of Nikanorivka, Rodynske, Chervyn Liman, Myrnograd, Pokrovsk, Kotlyne, Udachne, Molodetske, Novosergiivka, Horikhove, and Dachne. Two clashes are still ongoing.
In the direction of Kostyantynivka, the Russian invaders carried out nine offensive actions near the settlements of Shcherbynivka, Yablunivka, Oleksandro-Shultine, Kleban-Bik, Rusyn Yar and in the direction of Sofiivka. One attack is still ongoing.
At the moment, no clashes have been recorded in the Kramatorsk direction.
On December 17, the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Oleksandr Syrskyi, said that the enemy had increased the group to the number of about 710,000 soldiers in order to conduct a strategic offensive operation.
According to him, Russian troops have been trying to capture Pokrovsk for more than 17 months, but Ukrainian units are holding the defense and intercepting the initiative.
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.