The command of the Russian Armed Forces is reportedly hiding real losses in the Pokrovsk direction, registering soldiers who were killed in action as absent without leave (AWOL), according to the partisan movement Atesh.
Atesh agents embedded within the 30th Separate Mechanized Brigade report that after large-scale losses, the command deliberately lists the dead as AWOL.
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The brigade has created separate lists, entering hundreds of names while presenting the killed as fugitives. Soldiers are allegedly told, “AWOL is easier than explaining to relatives where the body is.”
This practice applies to those lost during chaotic assaults on the city as well as those killed by barricade detachments. Over the past year, the scale of such fictitious AWOLs has increased significantly, the report shared on Telegram adds.
Atesh reveals that this strategy completely destroys trust within units.
“Soldiers understand that at any moment they can be ‘written off’ as deserters, even if they died in battle. This causes fear, aggression, and a rapid decline in morale. Discipline is broken, command is not trusted, and combat capability deteriorates with each new assault,” the report reads.
Serhiy Lefter, a communications officer with the 7th Rapid Reaction Corps of Ukraine’s Airborne Assault Forces, told RBC Ukraine outlet that Russian forces recently brought in operational reserves to capture the Pokrovsk-Myrnohrad urban agglomeration. Ukrainian troops had already been monitoring this buildup since late November.
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“The Russians will bring them in because they are basically wearing themselves out. If capturing Pokrovsk were easy, they would have done it by now,” Lefter said.
As of now, Russian units had managed to gain a foothold in the southern quarters of Pokrovsk, while the northern part of the city remains under Ukrainian control.
Russian troops are often operating openly, moving through fields in broad daylight without camouflage. Lefter described it as “wild” behavior, and said Ukrainian forces continue to eliminate them while reinforcements arrive.
Currently, there is no clear front line. Northern districts are held by the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU), while the southern quarters are partially controlled by Russian units and considered a gray zone. Ukrainian troops continue conducting raids and clearing neighborhoods in southern Pokrovsk.
According to Lefter, since the beginning of December, Ukrainian forces have eliminated about 60 Russian soldiers in Pokrovsk and wounded more than 40, though these are only the confirmed figures.
Weather conditions – frequent fog and rain – have made drone reconnaissance difficult. Russians have attempted to move heavy armored vehicles into the city, but Ukrainian troops have largely destroyed them.
Light equipment is transferred more discreetly and hidden. Russian artillery has been deployed south of the city in nearby settlements, periodically shelling Ukrainian positions.
Despite the fighting, civilians remain in Pokrovsk. According to Lefter, about a thousand people were still in the city in August, though current numbers are unknown.
He said, “The Russians come in and show on cameras how they ‘love’ the locals, but, by and large, people in Pokrovsk are dying from their weapons and from their actions.”
The Pokrovsk direction has long been a focal point of fighting in the Donetsk region, where Russia is attempting to surround the city from multiple directions and deploy additional forces.
Colonel Vladislav Seleznyov of the AFU estimates that Russia has more than 140,000 troops in the Pokrovsk direction.
Ukrainian forces are conducting search-and-assault operations in urban Pokrovsk, targeting and eliminating Moscow forces, while in Myrnohrad, units hold defensive lines and strike approaching Russian troops.
Additional supply routes to Pokrovsk and Myrnohrad are being organized to ensure uninterrupted delivery of essential supplies to Ukrainian troops.
Ukrainian forces said on Dec. 2 that heavy fighting continues in Pokrovsk, despite Russian claims of having captured the city after months of assault.
Moscow released a video on Dec. 1 showing soldiers raising a flag over the town center, but Ukrainian troops said the Russians who entered the area were pushed back.
The Ukrainian command accused Russia of staging the flag-raising for propaganda purposes.
“Attempts by the occupiers to create propaganda illustrations that they supposedly control the city are leading to significant losses of their personnel,” the Ukrainian military said.
According to Russia’s Defense Ministry, President Vladimir Putin visited a command post on Nov. 30, where Chief of Staff Valery Gerasimov announced the “liberation” of Krasnoarmeysk and Volchansk – Moscow’s names for Pokrovsk and Vovchansk in the Donetsk and Kharkiv regions, respectively. The claim came ahead of a meeting between Putin and US envoy Steve Witkoff.
Pokrovsk, which had roughly 60,000 residents before Russia’s 2022 invasion, remains a major strategic prize. Analysts say Russia’s battlefield claims are exaggerated. The Institute for the Study of War described Moscow’s narrative as a “false story” intended to pressure the West.
Elsewhere, Ukraine’s Third Army Corps on Dec. 1 dismissed Russian claims of capturing villages near Lyman in Donetsk as “fictional achievements.”
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