MOSCOW (Reuters) -Russia said on Wednesday that Ukrainian troops in the battered cities of Pokrovsk and Kupiansk were encircled and should surrender, as they had no chance of survival otherwise.

Russia has been trying to capture Pokrovsk, dubbed “the gateway to Donetsk”, since 2024 as part of an attempt to take the entirety of the Donbas region, of which Ukrainian forces still control about 10%, or 5,000 square km (1,930 square miles).

In a break with the frontal assaults which Russian forces used against other cities, Russia has used pincer movements to almost encircle Ukrainian forces in both Pokrovsk and Kupiansk while small highly-mobile units and drones disrupted logistics and sowed chaos behind Ukrainian lines.

Russia’s tactics in both locations created what Russian military blogg

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