Ukraine facing fierce fighting around eastern city of Pokrovsk, Zelensky says

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky says Ukrainian forces are facing fierce fighting around the city of Pokrovsk in the east, a logistics hub near which Russia has been announcing the capture of villages on an almost daily basis.

Zelensky, speaking in his nightly video address, says Ukraine’s top commander, Oleksandr Syrskyi, told a meeting of senior officials that the situation around Pokrovsk was the current focal point of its attention in the war, which began when Russia invaded in February 2022.

“All operational directions were covered, with particular focus on Pokrovsk. It receives the most attention,” Zelenskiy says.

Ukrainian forces, he says, are also “continuing to act” in border areas in the northern Sumy region, where Russian troops have gained a foothold in recent weeks.

Syrskyi, in a separate report on the Telegram messaging app, described Pokrovsk and five other sectors as among the most difficult theaters along the 1,000-km (620-mile) front.

“The Russian Federation is paying the maximum price for attempting a ‘summer offensive,'” Syrskyi wrote.

Russian forces have for months been trying to close in on Pokrovsk, a road and rail hub whose pre-war population of about 60,000 has been all but evacuated.