00:00Meters at a time, Russian troops have been advancing near Pogrovsk.
00:04They've already captured important Ukrainian positions nearby.
00:08The situation is growing more and more critical.
00:12They're getting closer.
00:14But there are very strong defense lines around Pogrovsk
00:19that have been built for a long time.
00:22So it can defend the city even against a much superior force.
00:29It's the last defensive belt.
00:32And while the Ukraine military's tough line of defense
00:35directly around Pogrovsk has been in place since 2014,
00:39the next lines are not nearly as strong.
00:42So if they can break through at Pogrovsk,
00:44the Russians will likely find it easier to advance further.
00:49The terrain to the west of Pogrovsk,
00:51to the Dnieper, is pretty much very flat, open terrain.
00:54And there are not much defense positions.
00:59So there is no fourth or fifth line.
01:01The only thing what the Ukrainians can do
01:03is to fight the delaying action of the Russians
01:05if there is what we call an operational breakthrough.
01:08Preventing that operational breakthrough is vital.
01:11Pogrovsk is of great strategic importance
01:13as a logistics hub by road and rail.
01:16The routes to vital cities like Donetsk,
01:19Konstantinovka, Kramatorsk and Dnipro pass through it.
01:24But the Russian army is pushing closer every day toward Pogrovsk.
01:28And an evacuation has been underway for weeks.
01:31Still, whether the Russians can actually take the city,
01:34military experts we spoke with suggest it's not likely.
01:37In the short term, at least.
01:39If they start to reach the hard defensive lines,
01:42they actually might be happy to just shoot the city to ruins
01:46with artillery shootout, the rail lines shootout, the road lines,
01:50because that degrades the usability of Pogrovsk as a logistical hub.
01:56The latest Russian offensive has been ongoing for many months.
02:00Now the Russian army is seizing perhaps several hundred meters
02:03of Ukrainian territory a day in the move toward Pogrovsk.
02:07Whether the Ukrainian military can put a stop to the advance
02:10is a matter to be decided in coming days.
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