Ukrainian forces say they are holding on to Pokrovsk amid heavy fighting

2025-11-02 14:21:30, Kosova & Bota CNA

Ukrainian military authorities have insisted that their forces are holding firm in the frontline town of Pokrovsk, in the east of the country.

Meanwhile, Russian and Ukrainian forces have carried out missile and drone attacks in several areas during the night between November 1 and 2.

As the fighting continues, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said a meeting between the presidents of Russia and the United States "is not necessary right now."

His comments, published by the TASS news agency on November 2, are a further sign that Moscow is determined to continue its nearly four-year-long full-scale occupation of Ukraine, despite US-led peace efforts.

"What is needed now is very careful work to work out the specific details of the problem," Peskov said, without giving further details.

The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported on November 2 that Russia had launched Iskander-M ballistic missiles and 79 attack drones overnight.

A Russian drone strike in the Ukrainian city of Odessa killed two people and wounded another, according to the head of the regional military administration, Oleh Kiper, who said "civilian infrastructure" had been damaged.

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty's Ukrainian Service reported an attack on a residential building in Zaporizhia. No one was injured in the incident, but three people were injured in other attacks in the city.

Meanwhile, Ukraine hit an oil tanker and other facilities in the Russian Black Sea port of Tuapse, in the Krasnodar region.

Local officials said that "fragments of [the drones] fell on an oil tanker, damaging the upper part of the ship's structure. A fire broke out on board and the crew was evacuated."

This country has been frequently targeted by Ukrainian drones over the last year.

On the front lines, Ukrainian military authorities reported continued fighting in many areas on November 2, but the main focus remains on Pokrovsk, where Ukrainian forces are reportedly facing around 170,000 Russian troops.

Analysts warn that the fall of Pokrovsk, which had a pre-war population of around 70,000, could open the way for Russian troops to advance westward into the Dnipropetrovsk region, endangering southern areas of Ukraine.

“We are holding Pokrovsk,” Ukraine’s commander-in-chief, General Oleksandr Syrskiy, wrote on Facebook on November 1.

"A large-scale operation to destroy and expel enemy forces from Pokrovske is underway," he added, a day after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called the battle for the nearly destroyed city a "priority" for Ukraine.

Following reports from Western media, Kiev confirmed that it has sent special forces to this strategic city, after the Russian military claimed to have surrounded Ukrainian soldiers there.

Russia's Defense Ministry also claimed that its forces had killed all 11 members of a Ukrainian special forces team that had landed in the city by helicopter.

The situation on the ground remains unclear and cannot be independently verified.

Estimates suggest that between 200 and 400 Russian soldiers are already inside the eastern neighborhoods of the city, using urban terrain, basements and civilian clothing to avoid being noticed by the Ukrainian military./REL