Russian forces are advancing on the eastern Ukrainian town of Pokrovsk, destroying beleaguered Ukrainian military formations and repelling Ukrainian attempts to break through the encirclement, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Monday, BTA reported, citing the "Reuters" agency.
Ukrainian Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrsky, who said he estimated Russia had more than 100,000 troops fighting in the area, said his forces were fighting hard to push back Russian forces and were generally holding their ground.
Here are the key facts about Pokrovsk, which Russians call by its Soviet-era name - Krasnoarmeysk, and the long battle for control that began in the middle of last year.
What is Pokrovsk?
Pokrovsk is a road and rail hub in eastern Ukraine's Donetsk region, with a population of about 60,000 before the war. Most people have already fled, all the children have been evacuated, and few civilians remain among the destroyed apartment buildings and crater-strewn streets.
The only mine in Ukraine that produces coking coal - used in the once huge steel industry - is located about 10 km west of Pokrovsk.
Ukrainian steelmaker "Metinvest" announced in January that it had suspended mining operations there.
The town lies on a key route used by the Ukrainian army to supply other besieged outposts.
The Pokrovsk Technical University, the largest and oldest in the region, is now abandoned after suffering from constant shelling.
Why does Russia want Pokrovsk?
Russia wants to seize the entire Donbas region, which encompasses Luhansk and Donetsk oblasts.
Ukraine still controls about 10% of Donbas – an area of about 5,000 square kilometers in the western part of Donetsk oblast. The capture of Pokrovsk, dubbed by Russian media as the "gateway to Donetsk", and Kostantinovka to its northeast, which Russian forces are also trying to encircle, would provide Moscow with a platform for an offensive northward toward the two largest cities in Donetsk Oblast still under Ukrainian control - Kramatorsk and Slavyansk. It would provide Moscow with its most significant territorial gain in Ukraine since Russian forces captured the devastated town of Avdiivka in early 2024.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has argued that Donbass is now a legitimate part of Russia. Kiev and most Western countries reject the seizure of the territory by Moscow's forces, calling it an illegal seizure of land.
Some Western military analysts, such as Rob Lee, a senior fellow at the US-based Foreign Policy Research Institute, say that taking Pokrovsk would provide Russia with a significant victory, especially if it can do so by the end of the year.
But while it is important from an operational perspective, Lee says that after taking Pokrovsk, Russia will still have a lot of work to do when it comes to taking control of the rest of Donetsk Oblast and the two important fortified cities of Kramatorsk and Slavyansk.
Why is the battle for Pokrovsk taking so long?
Russia has been threatening Pokrovsk for more than a year. Instead of the large-scale frontal attacks it used in earlier battles, such as the bloody campaign for the city of Bakhmut, which is of similar size, the Russian army resorted to a pincer maneuver to gradually encircle Pokrovsk and threaten Ukrainian supply lines. Russian forces have been harassing Ukrainian troops, sending in small combat units and drones to disrupt logistics and wreak havoc behind their backs before sending in larger reinforcements.
Ukraine says the Russian offensive has resulted in huge losses for Russian forces.
Moscow argues that Ukraine, with its much smaller population, is at risk of being depleted and that its slower tactics are designed to minimize casualties.
A Ukrainian incursion into Russia's Kursk region last year, which Moscow retaliated against, also slowed the Russian attack on Pokrovsk.
What's happening now?
Ukraine is rushing to consolidate its position in the city.
"Fierce fighting is taking place in the city and on the approaches to it fighting... Logistics are difficult. But we must continue to destroy the occupiers," President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Sunday.
Russia's top general, Valery Gerasimov, chief of the General Staff, reported to Putin on Sunday that Russia had blocked a large number of Ukrainian soldiers in the area.
Ukrainian project "DeepState", which maps the front line based on verified open-source imagery, shows Russian forces advancing towards the city, although much of it is still greyed out, meaning it is outside the firm control of either side.
Late on Monday evening, the Ukrainian military said that Russia did not fully control any area in Pokrovsk and that its forces had made gains near the town of Dobropilya in the same region to force Moscow to divert its attention from Pokrovsk.
Reuters stressed that it was unable to confirm the information provided by either side from the battlefield due to restrictions on access to information in the war zone.