Ukraine Has Won Pokrovsk Battle, Disrupted Russia's Spring-Summer Offensive

Ukrainian military officials are publicly stating that Russia has lost the battle for Pokrovsk and that not only have Ukrainian forces won, but that they have disrupted Russia's spring and summer offensives. 

If this victory can be sustained, it will signal a profound change in the circumstances of the war. JL

New Voice of Ukraine reports: 

 

Russian forces have lost the battle for Pokrovsk and seen their larger offensive plans collapse. "They have lost the battle for Pokrovsk we can confidently say. Our defensive strategy was properly executed — not only disrupting their plans to take Pokrovsk but also foiling their much larger offensive plans for this summer, for which they had been building up reserves, while their spring offensive has already been derailed. They are falling behind their own schedule. Now they shifting the narrative, trying to distract public attention by claiming they are just four kilometers away from reaching Dnipropetrovsk Oblast." 

Russian forces have lost the battle for Pokrovsk and seen their larger offensive plans collapse, Serhiy Kuzan, head of the Ukrainian Center for Security and Cooperation, said in an interview with Radio NV.

"We are seeing a coordinated Russian information campaign tied to their failure — the fact that they have lost the battle for Pokrovsk. As of now, we can confidently say they have lost it," Kuzan said on Radio NV.

The military expert acknowledged that the situation could still change if Russia manages to deploy fresh reserves, but stressed that Russia’s broader spring-summer offensive plans have already been derailed.

"Our Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi spoke about this. Thanks to him, among others, our defensive strategy was properly executed — not only disrupting the enemy’s plans to take Pokrovsk but also foiling their much larger offensive plans for this summer, for which they had been building up reserves," Kuzan said.

"By their calculations, they planned to amass an additional 100,000 reservists. That master plan has been destroyed."

Although the front-line situation remains extremely difficult, Kuzan said Russian forces had intended to capture all of Pokrovsk and launch a broader offensive toward the Kostyantynivka–Druzhkivka–Kramatorsk–Sloviansk agglomeration.

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"We disrupted their plans, and now they are falling behind their own schedules — schedules that are critical for their summer offensive campaign. They can’t push us out of Donetsk Oblast because we stopped them under Pokrovsk," Kuzan said.

"Now the enemy is shifting the narrative, trying to distract public attention by claiming they are just four kilometers away from reaching Dnipropetrovsk Oblast."

On April 23, Ukraine’s Khortytsia Operational and Strategic Group of Forces reported that Russia continues to attempt to reach the administrative border between Donetsk and Dnipropetrovsk oblasts by May 9.

Earlier, on April 20, Khortytsia reported that Russian forces suffered significant losses during an assault in the Pokrovsk sector and were forced to retreat. Ukrainian forces notably destroyed an entire Russian motorcycle detachment during the battle.