Defence of Donetsk city a precedence, says Zelensky, as particular forces deployed

[ad_1] James Landale Diplomatic correspondent, in Kyiv

<img sizes="(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb/97b3/live/14972730-b712-11f0-ba75-093eca1ac29b.jpg.webp 240w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/97b3/live/14972730-b712-11f0-ba75-093eca1ac29b.jpg.webp 320w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/97b3/live/14972730-b712-11f0-ba75-093eca1ac29b.jpg.webp 480w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/97b3/live/14972730-b712-11f0-ba75-093eca1ac29b.jpg.webp 640w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/97b3/live/14972730-b712-11f0-ba75-093eca1ac29b.jpg.webp 800w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/97b3/live/14972730-b712-11f0-ba75-093eca1ac29b.jpg.webp 1024w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/97b3/live/14972730-b712-11f0-ba75-093eca1ac29b.jpg.webp 1536w" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/97b3/live/14972730-b712-11f0-ba75-093eca1ac29b.jpg.webp" loading="eager" alt="Reuters Artillerymen of the 152nd Separate Jaeger Brigade fire an M114 self-propelled howitzer towards Russian troops near Pokrovsk" class="sc-5340b511-0 hLdNfA"/> Reuters Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has mentioned the defence of Pokrovsk is a "precedence", as elite particular pressure have been deployed to the embattled city on the jap entrance line.

Ukrainian military sources informed the BBC that particular forces from army intelligence and assault teams have been getting used as common infantry to guard provide traces to troops holding the city within the Donbas area.

There have been rising reviews of Russian advances across the strategic city to the west of Donetsk. Ukraine has denied claims their forces have been surrounded.

Moscow desires Kyiv to cede the whole Donbas area as a part of a peace deal, together with the elements it presently doesn't management.

Russia presently controls round a fifth of Ukrainian territory, together with the Crimean peninsula it annexed in 2014.

The deployment of particular forces suggests officers in Kyiv are decided to attempt to maintain onto the city, which Russia has been attempting to grab for greater than a 12 months.

Native media reviews that the top of Ukraine's army intelligence, Kyrylo Budanov, was within the area to personally oversee the operation.

Pokrovsk is a key transport and provide hub whose seize may unlock Russian efforts to grab the remainder of the area.

However Kyiv additionally believes its seize would assist Russia in its efforts to steer the US that its army marketing campaign was succeeding - and, subsequently, that the West ought to acquiesce to its calls for.

Washington has grown more and more annoyed with the Kremlin's failure to maneuver ahead with peace negotiations - culminating in US President Donald Trump inserting sanctions on its two largest oil producers and axing plans for a summit with Russia's Vladimir Putin.

Zelensky has indicated he was open to Trump's proposal for a ceasefire that may freeze the struggle alongside the present entrance traces. Russia has publicly insisted Ukrainian troops depart the rest of the Donbas.

In his nightly deal with, the Ukrainian president mentioned: "Pokrovsk is our precedence. We proceed to destroy the occupier, and that's what issues most... They have to be halted the place they've reached - and destroyed there."

<img sizes="(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb/2510/live/3ccc9460-b712-11f0-81a4-f76cd66ce716.jpg.webp 240w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/2510/live/3ccc9460-b712-11f0-81a4-f76cd66ce716.jpg.webp 320w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/2510/live/3ccc9460-b712-11f0-81a4-f76cd66ce716.jpg.webp 480w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/2510/live/3ccc9460-b712-11f0-81a4-f76cd66ce716.jpg.webp 640w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/2510/live/3ccc9460-b712-11f0-81a4-f76cd66ce716.jpg.webp 800w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/2510/live/3ccc9460-b712-11f0-81a4-f76cd66ce716.jpg.webp 1024w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/2510/live/3ccc9460-b712-11f0-81a4-f76cd66ce716.jpg.webp 1536w" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/2510/live/3ccc9460-b712-11f0-81a4-f76cd66ce716.jpg.webp" loading="lazy" alt="Reuters Drone shot of Ukrainian forces leaving a helicopter in a muddy field." class="sc-5340b511-0 hLdNfA"/> Reuters Russia claimed to have killed Ukrainian particular forces who landed close to the city by helicopter

Photographs shared with information businesses seem present a Ukrainian Black Hawk helicopter deploying about 10 troops close to Pokrovsk, though the placement and date couldn't be verified.

Russia's defence ministry has claimed it thwarted the deployment of Ukrainian army intelligence particular forces north-west of the city, saying all 11 troops who landed by helicopter had been killed.

DeepState, a Ukrainian open-source monitoring group, estimates about half of Pokrovsk is a so-called "gray zone" the place neither facet is in full management.

A army supply in Donetsk informed the BBC that Ukrainian forces weren't surrounded however their provide traces have been underneath hearth from Russian troops.

"The state of affairs within the metropolis has modified a lot that [Ukraine's commander-in-chief, General] Syrsky is now sending elite items into the town to stabilise it," he mentioned.

These included particular forces and assault items in Ukraine's Defence Intelligence company (GUR), he mentioned.

"Combating is now going down for the railway station and the commercial zone within the west. The battles for the commercial zone have nearly diminished logistics from roughly vehicle-based to foot-based.

"The Ukrainian Armed Forces will not be in a bodily encirclement, however in an operational one - which means all logistics are underneath hearth management."

The US-based Institute for the Research of Warfare mentioned Ukrainian forces had "marginally superior" throughout current counter-attacks north of Pokrovsk, however mentioned the city was "primarily a contested 'gray zone'".