(CNN) — Russia has amassed 110,000 troops near Pokrovsk as part of its efforts to seize the strategic eastern Ukrainian city, according to Ukraine’s military chief on Friday. Oleksandr Syrskyi said that the area around Pokrovsk was currently the “hottest spot” along the 1,200-kilometre front line stretching across eastern Ukraine. Russian forces have been attempting to capture Pokrovsk for nearly a year, mounting one grinding offensive after another. Despite holding a clear advantage in manpower and weaponry, Moscow has so far failed to take the city. Pokrovsk is a key strategic target for Moscow. Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly stated that his objective is to capture all of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, parts of which are currently occupied by Russian forces. Kyiv and its allies have accused Putin of deliberately stalling peace talks in order to gain more Ukrainian territory. Although not a major urban centre, Pokrovsk lies on a crucial supply road and railway line, connecting it with other military hubs in the region. Together with Kostiantynivka, Kramatorsk and Sloviansk, it forms the backbone of Ukraine’s defences in the portion of Donetsk still under Kyiv’s control. Some 60,000 people lived in Pokrovsk before the war, but most have since left following Russia’s full-scale invasion, which began in February 2022. Ukraine’s last operating coking coal mine was located in Pokrovsk, and many of its workers had remained to keep the facility running. However, once it was forced to shut down earlier this year, they too began to depart. The Institute for the Study of War (ISW), a US-based conflict monitor, reported late last year that Ukrainian defensive operations had forced Russia to abandon its initial plan of a frontal assault on Pokrovsk. The ISW said Ukrainian forces had effectively incorporated drones into their defence strategy, integrating drone operators directly with ground troops to disrupt Russian advances. Meanwhile, Russia was unable to significantly reinforce troop numbers in the area, as it was trying to contain a surprise incursion by Ukrainian forces into the southern Kursk region of Russia. Syrskyi told reporters last week that at one point, the operation in Kursk had drawn away nearly 63,000 Russian troops and around 7,000 North Korean soldiers. “This allowed us to ease the enemy’s pressure on the main fronts and to regroup our own troops. The enemy’s planned capture of Pokrovsk, announced back in September 2024, has still not occurred — due in part to our Kursk operation,” he said. Instead of continuing with a direct assault, Russian forces have since shifted tactics, attempting to encircle the city from the south and northeast. In its latest assessment on Friday, the ISW said Russian troops were continuing to launch attacks using small fireteams of just one or two soldiers, sometimes riding motorcycles, all-terrain vehicles and buggies. In a statement issued the same day, Syrskyi said Russia was still trying to push through to the administrative border of the Donetsk region. “They are doing this not only for operational gains, but primarily for symbolic purposes — to achieve a psychological impact: to place the infamous ‘foot of the Russian soldier’ there, raise a flag, and proclaim another pseudo-‘victory’,” he said. About The Author