Hell in Pokrovsk: a soldier from the city told about the situation and evacuation in the region
14 August 2025 17:30
There are 1,327 civilians left in Pokrovsk, Donetsk Oblast, where the fiercest fighting is currently taking place. Evacuation from the city is currently almost impossible.
This was reported by the head of the Donetsk regional military administration Vadym Filashkin. According to him, the distance from Pokrovsk to the positions of Russian troops is about one kilometer, but the Ukrainian Defense Forces are making every effort to stop the enemy’s advance.
“Evacuation without military support is almost impossible. The enemy is shelling almost all roads using FPV drones controlled via fiber optic channel. Many people are injured as a result. Today, it is possible to leave the city only under the cover of our defenders,” said Filashkin.
He also noted that residents of Pokrovsk were repeatedly offered to evacuate before the situation escalated, but some people decided to stay in the city.
Russian troops are trying to break into the city
The situation in the frontline Pokrovsk, Donetsk region, remains critical. According to Ukrainian Armed Forces soldier Yevhen “Sheikh” Ievlev, who is originally from Pokrovsk, the city is under constant threat of a breakthrough by Russian forces.
“I can’t say that the Russians have already entered the city, but there are definitely attempts to break through. And these are not subversive reconnaissance groups, but headquarters groups that are trying to penetrate Pokrovsk. Our units are destroying them as quickly as possible,” Ievlev said in a commentary for
[Kommersant] .
According to the military, the fighting is no longer about preventing the enemy from entering the city, but about preventing it from gaining a foothold in Pokrovsk itself:
“It is no longer a fight for the approaches to the city, but for the city itself. This is a negative dynamic. The Ukrainian units working there are very professional, but the situation is extremely critical,” emphasized Ievlev.
Evacuation: a four-hour journey under the control of drones
The evacuation of the city has been effectively suspended for over a week. Direct departure is currently impossible due to the heavy use of Russian FPV drones, which are shooting at all roads.
“It’s no longer about evacuation when the ‘white angels’ were flying overhead. To get out of Pokrovsk, a person has to walk to the evacuation point for up to four hours. It used to take 40 minutes. But now it’s about survival,” the military said.
According to him, the path is under constant threat of drone attacks:
“After walking 600 meters, you hide in the greenery, wait for the drones to fly away. And so on. Some FPV drones are sitting in standby mode – on fiber optics. They cannot be neutralized. This is not about normal evacuation,” says Ievlev.
Ievlev emphasizes that the situation in the city is extremely dangerous not only because of the approach of Russian troops, but also because of the total control of the air by drones.
“Everything that moves is hit. The city is under fire. Imagine FPV drones with inaccurate optics operating in a city where both our forces and the enemy are present. It’s chaos,” the fighter describes.
Civilians are actually hostages of the situation
Despite the extreme threat, hundreds of civilians are still in the city. According to Ievlev, most of them are elderly people who are either physically unable to overcome the dangerous path to evacuation or do not see life outside of Pokrovsk.
“Those who could and understood the threat have already evacuated. But there are mostly pensioners left who simply have nowhere to go. People say: ‘I have a pension of 3.5 thousand hryvnias, I will just freeze somewhere at the train station’. They do not support the enemy, they just do not see life without their home,” explains the soldier.
Ievlev emphasizes that despite the availability of separate evacuation routes, the situation is approaching a humanitarian catastrophe.
“I cannot say that they are literally hostages. But it is more likely than not. These people cannot travel because of the danger and their physical condition. It’s not about evacuation anymore, it’s a special operation,” the fighter summarizes.
Thus, the situation in Pokrovsk has moved to another phase – from holding back the enemy on the outskirts to a direct confrontation for the settlement itself. This means that the threat of a complete breakthrough of Russian troops into the city is becoming more and more real. The military notes a negative trend – the enemy is attempting to infiltrate not only with subversive reconnaissance groups, but also with headquarters groups. The success of Ukrainian units in destroying these threats has not yet allowed the enemy to gain a foothold, but the scale of pressure is increasing every day.
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