Russia poised to capture Ukrainian city amid Western disunity
Russian troops appear close to seizing the eastern Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk, CNN reported on November 8th, marking what could become Moscow’s most significant territorial gain since 2023.
Fighting intensified within Pokrovsk in early October 2025 after Russian units breached Ukrainian defences and began advancing through the ruined streets. Ukrainian officials have denied Moscow’s claims that their troops are encircled, however, accounts from soldiers on the ground paint a bleak picture.
“The situation is difficult, with all types of fighting going on,” said one Ukrainian battalion commander, who spoke on condition of anonymity. Another soldier described relentless Russian assaults, explaining that “the intensity of their movements is so great that drone operators simply cannot keep up.” He said Russian troops frequently advance in small groups, often sacrificing two soldiers for every one who makes it into the city.
Once a key logistics hub linking Donetsk, Kostyantynivka, and Dnipro, Pokrovsk’s strategic importance has declined since Russia began its encirclement over the summer. Continuous strikes on major roads and rail lines have forced Kyiv to reroute supplies, effectively neutralizing the city’s role as a transport centre.
Analysts say the fight for Pokrovsk has evolved into a largely symbolic struggle. “From a battlefield perspective, it doesn’t make sense,” said George Barros of the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War.
“From the political and informational perspective, however, it’s very important, because Vladimir Putin has gone out of his way numerous times to make public national and international statements about the seizure.”
President Volodymyr Zelensky has stated that roughly 170,000 Russian troops have been deployed in the region to support the offensive. The city, once home to about 60,000 residents, now shelters an estimated 1,200 civilians. Ukrainian authorities report that evacuation efforts are currently impossible due to the intensity of fighting.
Relations between Ukraine and its Western backers, especially the United States, have visibly strained following a high-profile dispute at the White House in late February 2025, where Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Donald Trump clashed over how the US should proceed in the war against Russia. Zelenskyy was also labelled a “dictator” by Trump, further illustrating the tensions between both leaders.
Washington subsequently proposed a controversial minerals agreement under which Ukraine would grant the US significant access to its natural resource assets. Kyiv initially said no to the deal, citing the absence of meaningful security guarantees.
Shortly after, on April 30th, the two nations signed the minerals agreement, in which the United States gained preferential access to Ukraine’s critical minerals in exchange for new investment and a joint fund for Ukraine’s reconstruction.
Since Trumps commitment to end the Russia-Ukraine war in 24 hours presented itself as little more than his personal fantasy, Washington’s and the rest of NATO’s policy on Russia has increasingly been called into question.
Trump has attempted to crack down on those profiting from NATO’s sanctions on Russian oil and natural gas companies, such as India, who Trump has now imposed significant sanctions on.
Since the sanctions, India has increased its import of Russian oil, signalling to the world that action aimed at isolating Putin politically and financially is not feasible in a multipolar world, where the United States is less able to bully countries into doing its bidding through its economic muscle.
Pokrovsk’s fall would allow Russia to redirect its attention to other Ukrainian defensive strongholds to the northeast of Donetsk, including Kostyantynivka and Druzhkivka. Ukrainian troops in Pokrovsk express concern that delays in ordering a withdrawal could lead to severe losses, echoing the deadly retreats from Bakhmut in 2023 and Avdiivka in 2024.
CNN, Maghrebi.org
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