Ukrainians raise their flag in Pokrovsk to show the BBC that fighting continues in a city claimed by Russia

Pokrovsk has not yet fallen. This is despite recent claims by President Vladimir Putin that Russian forces have captured the city.

There is no doubt that Ukraine is losing ground in this key eastern city. For Russia, Pokrovsk is a new stepping stone towards its goal of taking control of the entire Donbass. But Ukraine must prove that it is still capable of resistance.

At a Ukrainian command post, well behind the front line, orders are relayed by radio in rapid succession. Soldiers watch dozens of live drone feeds. They coordinate strikes against Russian positions inside the city.

The commander of the Skala assault regiment, Yuri, is keen to prove to us that Ukraine still controls the north of the city – to show that the Kremlin’s claim that it has taken Pokrovsk is a lie.

On the radio, they ask two of their soldiers to come out of their shelter to display a Ukrainian flag. They move quickly to avoid detection. The drone feed shows the moment they briefly wave their yellow and blue flag, before quickly returning to cover.

Yuri said to me: “Now you have seen it with your own eyes.”

“I think the whole world should know that we will not just give up our territory,” he says. “If we don’t show it, everyone will lose confidence and stop helping Ukraine.”

The battle for Pokrovsk, once a key logistics hub for Ukraine’s military, has been going on for nearly 18 months. The city is already in ruins.

The question now is how much longer Ukraine can hold on.

Those tracking Russian advances suggest that Ukrainian forces barely have control of the city.

Russian forces are slowly advancing from the south. Ukraine is losing ground, but still claims to retain the north, up to the railway line which crosses the city.

Sasha, a 25-year-old battalion commander, shows me a map. Above it, he placed green plastic soldiers to represent the place where Ukrainian troops are still defending themselves. Brown plastic soldiers show where their enemy has advanced.

The Russians used small teams of two to four soldiers to sneak past Ukrainian positions, sometimes dressed as civilians.

“It’s a good tactic to get behind enemy lines, to gain a foothold,” explains Sasha. But he adds: “The enemy who penetrates our rear is quickly identified: it takes 15 to 20 minutes between detection and destruction.”

Russia has suffered heavy losses, but still has additional troops. A Ukrainian soldier with the call sign Lapin shows me the passports and documents recovered from their dead. I asked him if he thought they killed a lot of Russians.

“Not enough,” he replies.

Rabbit described the situation as “difficult, but under control.” He shows me a Russian machine gun captured by one of his comrades who fought for 70 days straight at Pokrovsk. “All he wanted was cigarettes and ammo,” Rabbit says.

The fighting is clearly taking its toll on Ukrainian forces, but they show no signs of giving up. Rabbit also disagrees with any suggestion that Ukraine should cede more land in exchange for peace.

According to him, too much blood has already been shed: “We are part of this land. If we give it up, Russia will want more.”

Another soldier – call sign “Ghost” – fighting in another unit in Pokrovsk described the situation as “tense, but not critical”. He calls reports of its capture “Russian propaganda”, saying that reports that “Pokrovsk is surrounded are false information”, but adds that “everyone is exhausted – Russia and Ukraine”.

For Ukraine, holding on to its land is also proving costly. The Skala Regiment shares recent videos taken by its troops on the front line, often having to hide in buildings from Russian drones. The buzz of an approaching drone is often accompanied by intense automatic fire as they attempt to shoot it down.

“Khotabych,” who recently spent a month fighting in the city, says it’s scary when drones spot you: “There are a lot of them and they fly 24 hours a day.”

The Russians have more and more drones equipped with thermal cameras, capable of seeing at night. Khotabych said he and his men were still hoping for “good weather,” by which he means fog, rain and gray skies. In other words, anything that makes flying more difficult.

In Pokrovsk, Ukrainian soldiers are focused on fighting, not peace talks. Most say they want to avoid “political questions”.

But a Latvian volunteer – the deputy commander of the Skala regiment – ​​is more willing to give his opinion. He says Latvians “understand that if Ukraine loses the war, our country will be next.”

His call sign is “Godfather” and he has a tough message for Europe and the United States. He describes President Donald Trump as a “charismatic and strong leader,” but he says that if Trump’s peace envoy, Steve Witkoff, “stands with Putin, then America and Trump look weak.”

As for Europe, he believes that “there is a lot of discussion, a lot of bureaucracy and not enough action”.

The message from the troops we spoke with is that the situation in Pokrovsk is not so bleak. But Ukraine needs proof of its resolve at this critical time.

Additional reporting by Mariana Matveichuk and Kyla Herrmannsen.