KYIV (Reuters) - Russian forces continue to launch attacks near the Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk in an effort to bypass it from the south and cut off supply routes to Ukraine's troops, the Ukrainian military said on Saturday.
The capture of the road and rail hub in the eastern Donetsk region could create serious difficulties for the Ukrainian army on the eastern front and also allow Russia to reinforce and advance its front line to the west.
"The Pokrovsk direction remains the hottest and there the Russians attacked 34 times (in the past 24 hours) and tried to break through our defences south of Pokrovsk," Viktor Trehubov, spokesman for Ukraine's Khortytsia group of forces, told Ukrainian national television.
The city, home to a mine that is the sole supplier of coking coal to Ukraine's once-giant steel industry, had a pre-war population of some 60,000 people. Ukraine estimates that around 11,000 of them remain in the city.
Trehubov said Russian forces were trying to block supply routes by sending small groups of soldiers to settlements south of Pokrovsk.
"They (Russians) don't go directly into the city because it means heavy urban fighting. So they first try to bypass the city and interrupt the logistics chains," Trehubov said.
He said Kyiv's forces were using drones and precision weapons to try and prevent Russian troops from reaching their targets.