This Ukrainian Town’s Fall Doesn't Have to Be a Significant Defeat
First Bakhmut, then Avdiivka, now Pokrovsk. In each of the last three years, Russia’s generals have identified a midsize Ukrainian town as their invasion’s next critical target, expending vast amounts of manpower and hardware to take it. The question is not whether Pokrovsk will fall, but what that will mean for the war. Pokrovsk’s capture would have significant political and symbolic importance for both sides, as was the case for its predecessors in 2023 and 2024. That plus road and rail links
