Russia’s army is reported to be making “rapid progress” in the southern region of Zaporizhzhia, according to a Ukrainian military blogger. Ukraine is defending attacks on multiple fronts from Putin’s army, fighting in several regions along a frontline estimated to be over 1,000 kilometres long.
Some of the fiercest battles have been fought in the Donetsk region, which along with Luhansk make up the Donbas. It is here that a ferocious battle for Pokrovsk is reaching a potential climax, following 21 months of intense fighting. But Russia’s army is also attacking in the Kharkiv region to the north and trying to push towards the city of Kupyansk.
Further south, Kyiv’s forces are attempting to hold their positions in the Zaporizhzhia region.
Ukraine’s army has managed to grind down Russian units and limit Putin’s army to minimal gains since the full-scale invasion of February 2022, despite being outnumbered and outgunned.
However, Ukrainian defences appear to be collapsing in certain sectors of the front, as Putin’s generals desperately strive for a breakthrough before the winter.
Stanislav Bunyatov runs a Telegram channel called “Говорять Снайпер” – They Say Sniper.
He calls himself the Mayor of Henichesk in his Telegram biography, a port city along the Sea of Azov in the Kherson region. The military blogger has served as a volunteer with the 24th Separate Assault Battalion «Aidar».
In a post on Thursday to his channel, he warned: “While our attention is on Pokrovsk (Donetsk region), the enemy is rapidly advancing on the right flank towards Zaporizhzhia, bypassing the entire southern defence line through the Dnipropetrovsk region.”
Pokrovsk appears in imminent danger of being captured by Russian forces after months of intense fighting.
The city has served as a major logistical and transport hub for Ukraine’s army on its eastern axis, and its fall would be a bitter pill to swallow for Kyiv.
Zelensky’s generals have rushed special force troops to the besieged city to try and prevent its capture. However, a senior Lieutenant in Ukraine’s Army appeared to imply the fall of Pokrovsk was a done deal.
Mykola Melnyk told the Ukrainian publication Censor.net: “The fact that we will lose Pokrovsk is a fact that follows from the balance of forces and means that we can deploy there, and what is happening now. So the question is quite simple: how to minimise the damage from what will happen? “
