Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has declared the defense of Pokrovsk a top priority, as elite special forces have been deployed to the embattled town on the eastern front line. Ukrainian military sources revealed to the BBC that special forces from military intelligence and assault groups are being utilized as regular infantry to safeguard supply lines to troops stationed in the Donbas region. Reports of Russian advances around the strategic town, located west of Donetsk, have been increasing, though Ukraine has refuted claims that their forces are encircled. Moscow has demanded that Kyiv cede the entire Donbas region, including areas it does not currently control, as part of a peace agreement. Russia presently occupies approximately one-fifth of Ukrainian territory, including the Crimean peninsula annexed in 2014. The deployment of special forces underscores Kyiv’s determination to retain control of Pokrovsk, which Russia has been attempting to seize for over a year. Local media reports indicate that Kyrylo Budanov, head of Ukraine’s military intelligence, is personally overseeing operations in the region. Pokrovsk serves as a critical transport and supply hub, and its capture could facilitate Russian efforts to dominate the rest of the region. Kyiv also believes that losing Pokrovsk would bolster Russia’s narrative of military success, potentially pressuring the West to acquiesce to its demands. The US has expressed growing frustration with the Kremlin’s stalled peace negotiations, leading to sanctions on Russia’s largest oil producers and the cancellation of a planned summit between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Zelensky has shown openness to Trump’s ceasefire proposal, which would freeze the conflict along current front lines, while Russia insists on Ukrainian troops withdrawing from the remaining Donbas territory. In his nightly address, Zelensky emphasized, ‘Pokrovsk is our priority. We continue to destroy the occupier, and that is what matters most… They must be halted where they have reached – and destroyed there.’ Meanwhile, Russia claims to have neutralized Ukrainian special forces who landed near Pokrovsk by helicopter, although the veracity of these claims remains unverified. Images shared with news agencies depict a Ukrainian Black Hawk helicopter deploying troops near Pokrovsk, though the exact location and date are uncertain. The Ukrainian open-source monitoring group DeepState estimates that about half of Pokrovsk is a ‘grey zone,’ with neither side in full control. A military source in Donetsk informed the BBC that Ukrainian forces are not surrounded but face intense fire on their supply lines. The US-based Institute for the Study War noted that Ukrainian forces have made marginal advances north of Pokrovsk, but the town remains largely contested.