Attacks on Pokrovsk increase, Russian forces less than three kilometres away

Serhii Dobriak, Head of the Pokrovsk Military Administration, has reported that Russian forces are intensifying their attacks on the city. The city lacks electricity, gas, and water. 

Source: Dobriak during Radio Svoboda broadcast

Details: Russian troops are less than three kilometres from Pokrovsk, Dobriak emphasises. 

Quote: "The situation concerning attacks is getting worse; they are becoming more frequent and include guided aerial bombs and artillery. FPV drones are especially troublesome. There is no place in the city that isn’t constantly being attacked by artillery or drones."

Details: Dobriak added that around 7,000 people remain in the city despite the lack of electricity, gas and water, which had been cut off over the summer. Despite the challenging circumstances, a few pharmacies and a hospital are open in the city, as well as one post office of Ukrposhta, Ukraine's national postal service, and a few shops.

As Dobriak noted, the citizens' evacuation is still underway, although they are now taking a slightly different approach.

Quote: "We do not use assembly points anymore. People are picked up by address from their houses. The majority of them are taken to Pavlohrad [Dnipropetrovsk Oblast – ed.], where they go through registration. Within a month, they receive 10,800 Ukrainian Hryvnias [about US$256.84 – ed.] in ‘support’ funds from foreign partners. The people settle in group living facilities such as schools and student accommodations."

Details: For people of pre-retirement age with special needs, people with disabilities, and ones who cannot rent a place to live in, "it is a regular occurrence. Their families help them, while the government supports them with payments for internally displaced people, and our humanitarian aid workers make a one-time payment of 1,800 Ukrainian Hryvnias [about US$42.30 – ed.]."  

While commenting on the situations of people who cannot rent a place themselves – people of pre-retirement age with special needs and people with disabilities – Dobriak emphasised that "their families help them, while the government supports them with payments for internally displaced people and our humanitarian aid workers make a one-time payment of 1,800 Ukrainian Hryvnias [about US$42.30 – ed.]," Dobriak reported. 

"The government definitely will not be able to give everyone a separate place to live," he added. 

Background: 

• In their report on 8 December, analysts at the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) suggest that the Kremlin is likely to pursue its attempts to capture the city of Pokrovsk in Donetsk Oblast, despite significant human and materiel losses.
• On 2 January, Major Viktor Trehubov, spokesman for the Khortytsia Operational Strategic Group, reported that Russian forces are not making a frontal assault on the city of Pokrovsk in Donetsk Oblast, but are trying to bypass and encircle the city.
• Maksym Tkachenko, a Ukrainian lawmaker from the Servant of the People faction, stated that over 150.000 internally displaced people returned to the temporarily-occupied territory, with approximately one-third of those who fled during the full-scale war returning to Mariupol.

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