The battle for Pokrovsk is intensifying.
Russia has ramped up its efforts to take the strategically located eastern Ukrainian city with hundreds of soldiers infiltrating the town in small groups.
One of the key towns comprising Ukraine’s “fortress belt” in Donetsk Oblast, Pokrovsk has been targeted by Moscow for more than a year.
Is it in danger of falling? And what would that mean?
On The Power Vertical Podcast this week, host Brian Whitmore speaks with Peter Dickinson, editor of the UkraineAlert blog at the Atlantic Council’s Eurasia Center and the publisher of Business Ukraine and Lviv Today magazines, and Mykola Bielieskov, a senior analyst at Come Back Alive, a non-profit providing support to service members in the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and author of the Telegram channel Armchair General UA.
Enjoy…
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SHOW NOTES
The audio clips opening the podcast and the second-half segment came from a speech by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on October 31, 2025. The translations are as follows:
“Of course, Pokrovsk is our priority. We continue to destroy the occupier, and that is what matters most – to stop Russian strikes wherever and whenever possible. The Russians want to turn our entire country into what they are doing to Pokrovsk, what they are doing to Kupyansk, and other towns and communities. They must be halted where they have reached – and destroyed there.”
“I want to especially thank our warriors for their long-range sanctions against Russia – there have been more than 160 hits on enemy fuel infrastructure since the start of this year alone, with hundreds more operations carried out directly against their war machine.”
You can access and subscribe to UkraineAlert here. Recent publications by Peter Dickinson can be accessed here. You can access Business Ukraine magazine here.
You can learn more about the Come Back Alive Foundation here. Mykola Bielieskov’s recent publications can be accessed here, here, here, here, here, and here.
The Power Vertical Newsletter on Substack can be accessed here. Recently published work by Brian Whitmore can be accessed here, here, here, and here. Please follow Brian Whitmore and The Power Vertical on Bluesky@powervertical.bsky.social