Motorcycles, pickup trucks, and open-top cars loaded with soldiers and weapons stream down a bomb-torn road, cutting through the thick gray fog that envelops what remains of Pokrovsk . After weeks of fighting, the Russians are taking advantage of the adverse weather conditions and pushing deep into the city , where, by the Ukrainians' own admission, over 300 Moscow soldiers are currently stationed, engaged in the most crucial battle on the Eastern Front: the fate of Donetsk and the entire Donbass region is at stake.

And things are no better in the south, where Ukrainian Defense Forces announced that they have been forced to withdraw from positions near five settlements in the Zaporizhia region , due to intensified Russian assault actions, increased exposure to fire and to safeguard the lives of personnel.

"The situation remains difficult," acknowledged Volodymyr Zelensky , who visited Kherson on the third anniversary of its liberation. The recapture of the southern city gave the Ukrainian people a confidence that today, three years later, is wavering. The Ukrainian president tries to spur his men by stating that the soldiers continue "to destroy the occupiers," while "the situation in Kupyansk is a little easier; our forces have achieved results."

But the images of Russian soldiers advancing unchallenged into Pokrovsk are worth more than a thousand statements. According to the Ukrainian military itself, Moscow is concentrating around 150,000 troops in the operation to capture the city . Military analysts on both sides acknowledge that Russia has executed a pincer movement around the city and is close to closing it, although Kiev has so far denied it has been encircled. The fall of the city would give Moscow's forces the space to move north towards Kramatorsk and Sloviansk, the two largest cities still controlled by Ukraine in the Donetsk region. This would pave the way for the conquest of the entire Donbass, which remains Vladimir Putin's primary objective , convinced he can achieve on the ground what he cannot achieve through negotiations.