The Russian army continues its offensive in Donetsk Region, gradually approaching the town of Pokrovsk. According to the OSINT project DeepState, on January 3, the settlements of Dachne, Novy Trud and Volkovo, located 5-6 kilometres south of Pokrovsk, came under the control of Russian troops. Similar information is provided by the Liveuamap blog, while the AFU General Staff in its official summary reported about the ongoing fighting for the village of Novy Trud.
In addition, DeepState records the advance of Russian forces in the settlements of Zelenyi, Vozdvizhenka, Novovasilivka, as well as in the areas near Yantarne and Solntsivka.
The Ukrainian military reports that Russian forces lost more than 300 people killed and wounded on the Pokrovka section of the front on 3 January alone.
Despite significant losses, the Russian army continues its slow offensive on Pokrovsk. Refusing a frontal attack, the troops are trying to bypass the city from the south to reach the administrative borders of Donetsk and Luhansk regions, which Russia declared annexed in September 2022.
Russian forces are also seeking to approach the administrative border of Dnipropetrovsk region, where there has been no ground fighting since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.