Pokrovsk ledge may turn into place of Russian forces' total destruction - Ukrainian military

Ivan Tymochko, Chairman of the Council of Reservists of the Ukrainian Land Forces, said this on the Espreso TV channel.

"The Pokrovsk direction is a tactical level direction. In order to achieve success in the southern Donetsk region or in the southeast, Russia needs to advance in the direction of Vuhledar - Kurakhove - Pokrovsk to create a bridgehead for movement, first of all, to cover, to connect the end of Donetsk region itself, and to potentially be considered as a bridgehead for movement towards Dnipro. But while a week ago, the Ukrainian information space discussed the issue of Pokrovsk as a fait accompli that the enemy would occupy and capture it, this heat has now subsided. The impetus or offensive potential that the Russians had in this direction has significantly decreased, and they are now in a dilemma," he said.

If Russian forces do not activate their troops in the Kurakhove - Vuhledar area and do not achieve any tactical success there or expand their flanks at least in this direction, there are risks that in the near future the Pokrovsk ledge may turn into a place of total destruction for them, said Tymochko.

"They failed to expand this ledge, and now its width is about 25 km, which means that it can be kept under fire control and damage from both sides. After all, according to the Commander-in-Chief, a certain reorganisation has been carried out there, the Ukrainian Armed Forces have been reinforced, and additional means of destruction have been brought up. In this area, we even managed to create a one-to-two ratio of artillery and weapons. Given today's realities, this is quite a serious parity. We cannot achieve a symmetrical advantage or even an asymmetrical one, but in our favour, in terms of numbers. But the Western weapons promised by the EU and the US have arrived, albeit not in full quantity. They were provided so that we could use high-tech or precision weapons to counter Russian masses in this area," he concluded.

• On September 9, Ukrainian Armed Forces Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi said that over the past few days, Russian enemy had not advanced a single metre in the Pokrovsk sector.