Why Russia wants to capture Pokrovsk, a strategic Ukrainian city

Russian forces are starting to encircle the strategically important eastern Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk after capturing a string of villages to its south, and Ukraine has halted production at its only coking coal mine nearby.

Following are key facts about Pokrovsk, which Russians call by its Soviet-era name of Krasnoarmeysk, and the battle for control.

Pokrovsk is a road and rail hub in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region and had a pre-war population of some 60,000 people. Most people have fled and only around 7,000 residents remain, according to a Ukrainian police statement in late January.

It lies on a key road used by the Ukrainian military to supply other embattled eastern outposts, including the towns of Chasiv Yar, which is consumed by heavy fighting, and Kostiantynivka in the Donetsk region.

Ukraine's only mine that produces coking coal - used in its once vast steel industry and vital for the country's pre-war economy - is around six miles (10 km) west of Pokrovsk.

Ukrainian steelmaker Metinvest said in mid-January it had suspended the mine's operations, citing the deteriorating security situation. Its loss threatens to more than halve Ukraine's steel output, the steelmakers' union has said.

Since 2014, Pokrovsk has been the site of a major technical university, the largest and oldest such institution in the wider region. The university has been damaged by shelling and many of its windows are now blown out or boarded up.

Moscow says it has annexed Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region and sees taking control of Pokrovsk as an important stepping stone to incorporating the entire region into Russia. Kyiv and the West reject Russia's territorial claims as illegal and accuse Moscow of prosecuting a war of colonial conquest.

Control of the city, which the Russian media call "the gateway to Donetsk", would allow Moscow to severely disrupt Ukrainian supply lines along the eastern front and boost its campaign to capture Chasiv Yar, which sits on higher ground offering potential control of a wider area.

Squeezing the Ukrainian military's access to the road network in the vicinity would make it harder for Kyiv's troops to hold pockets of territory either side of Pokrovsk, which could allow Russia to advance the front line.

Russian forces, according to open source data, have begun to encircle the city in a pincer movement from the southeast and southwest.

WHAT IS UKRAINE DOING TO DEFEND POKROVSK?

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Jan. 26 replaced Brigadier General Andriy Hnatov, the commander of the eastern front which includes Pokrovsk, in a move he said was designed to strengthen the command of troops in the Donetsk region.

Hnatov was replaced by Major General Mykhailo Drapatyi, overall commander of ground forces, who kept his previous duties.

That followed the replacement in December of General Oleksandr Lutsenko, the commander overseeing defences in Donetsk who had been criticised by some Ukrainian military bloggers and lawmakers for failing to stop Russian troops' relentless push towards Pokrovsk. He was replaced by General Oleksandr Tarnavskiy.

Oleksandr Syrskyi, Ukraine's top commander, has said his troops in and around Pokrovsk have prepared for the approaching Russians by repeatedly strengthening their defensive positions and he has spoken of sending new reserves, ammunition and equipment to bolster the defenders.

Russian forces have taken control of villages and settlements south of Pokrovsk. Ukraine says Moscow has been throwing everything it has at trying to break through, while sustaining huge losses.

Moscow says Ukrainian forces are taking serious losses. Neither side discloses full casualty figures.

In November, Zelenskiy visited Pokrovsk, where he spoke to troops defending the city and handed out military awards.

Even though the blue and yellow Ukrainian flag is still flying over Pokrovsk, the city is a shadow of its former self, with no electricity, gas, heating or piped water.

Reuters footage published on Jan. 27 showed the facades of apartment blocks badly damaged, deserted streets, and some elderly residents who had been sheltering in a basement being evacuated.

In earlier video published on Dec. 20, shell fire could be heard nearby, "dragon's teeth" anti-tank obstacles had been placed on some roads and a small shop selling groceries was operating on a power generator.

Many of the residents interviewed by Reuters said they refused to leave because they had nowhere else to go and few financial resources.