“The Russians attacked relentlessly for 12 hours,” how Ukrainian Special Operations Forces repel assaults in the Pokrovsk front
The Russian army is steadily building up forces in the Pokrovsk sector to intensify assaults that now happen daily. The Ukrainian army is holding Pokrovsk, but the Russians are not giving up their attempts to break through the city's defenses. They use small assault teams, two to four people, and have begun to employ cars and motorcycles more often during attacks. But the main danger remains enemy drones — because of them, the “kill zone” along the front has stretched to 15 kilometers (9.3 miles) deep. Frontliner spoke with several Special Operations Forces (SOF) groups active in the Pokrovsk sector who recently returned from combat missions.
Despite the development of Russian drones, the Ukrainian side still has the advantage in the air on this stretch of the front. The commander of a fire support group from the 144th Center of the Special Operations Forces, call sign “Syn,” (Ukrainian for Son) says Ukrainian troops can see the enemy day and night. That helps neutralize them quickly.
“During the time we’ve been in this sector, we haven’t seen large assault groups from the enemy — they operate in small teams of two to four people. We try to stop them before they reach the positions, while they’re moving through fields and tree lines. But they’re using the tree lines less often; I don’t know why, but it seems to me they’re being sent that way so they don’t see their dead in the tree lines that have accumulated while we’ve been here. At least that’s what I’ve seen,” Syn says.
Recently, his group took out a group of Russians on motorcycles who were trying to storm their trenches.
“Sometimes they don’t make it to their objectives on their motorcycles; they stall, and they end up pushing them across the field. Then it’s even easier to neutralize them. We haven’t seen a single Russian soldier walking back. They either stay here or reach their destination, where they remain forever,” Syn says.
The fire support group works on both assaults and mop-ups, supporting other units. First, they fire as much as possible at the enemy position with everything that can be done safely: mortars, grenade launchers, artillery, bomb drops from quadcopters, and fixed-wing strike drones. Then a group enters the position, clears it, and does everything possible to allow the infantry to enter and secure it. Before the clearing team enters, the fire-support element engages the enemy to cover their approach. After the fight, it covers the withdrawal, allowing Ukrainian forces to pull back safely.
Close combat
Another task of the special forces is to operate behind enemy lines. However, in the Pokrovsk direction, as on most of the front line, this is currently difficult due to enemy drones. Special forces groups are also highly trained for close combat, in particular, urban combat and building clearances.
The fighting in the Pokrovsk direction is very intense. The Russians are advancing every day. Special forces groups, together with adjacent units, are repelling intense enemy assaults even under the threat of encirclement, as was the case in one of the industrial zones near Pokrovsk. A battle pitting Ukrainian SSO and National Guard soldiers against assaulting Russian units lasted 12 hours straight. The Ukrainians only pulled back when reinforcements could replace them.
The SOF group was then led by a soldier with the call sign “Kipish.” The special forces showed ingenuity:
“We had a good tactic with a firing port we built with our own hands that the Russians didn’t spot. They would come in, throw two grenades first, then enter in groups of two or three, cover the corners, but immediately run into withering fire from the port. At night, we had the advantage thanks to night‑vision devices, lasers, infrared flashlights — the Russians didn’t have that; at night, they couldn’t see us. And our drones helped a lot. It was a very fierce fight,” Kipish says.
He says these were the most intense battles on the Pokrovsk front. The Ukrainian soldiers were eventually able to repel the assault and hold their positions thanks to coordination between units.
“The Russians attacked relentlessly for 12 hours. We moved from one building to another, and there were already five Russians climbing through the window. We took them out. As soon as we turned around, there were three more in the hallway, and we took them out, too. It was a constant onslaught. Our group covered all sectors, which saved our lives. All contact with the enemy took place at a distance of 50 meters or less. There were fights with just a wall between us. Our group then neutralized 20 Russians, and the National Guard was shooting from an entire floor as the enemy tried to advance; they took down many as well,” says Kipish.
When the next group from the 144th Center arrived to relieve their comrades in the industrial zone, they didn’t yet know how close the fight would be. Among them was the SOF group medic “Avichi.” According to him, the commander gave every fighter the choice to enter those hot positions or not, given the danger. No one refused.
“When we arrived at the landing site in armored Humvees, we learned that the guys we were going to replace had been surrounded by Russians during the battle, half of the building had been burned down, and the men were suffering from carbon-monoxide poisoning. And we were told that the task had changed, and we were going into the encirclement,” says Avichi.
The group with Avichi was able to relieve Kipish’s team. Together with other units, they removed the threat of encirclement without suffering any casualties or serious injuries among the special forces members. At the same time, SOF evacuation crews in an American M113 armored personnel carrier evacuated wounded fighters from adjacent units under the cover of artillery fire and drones flown by other special operations groups.
Fighting on the Pokrovsk front is difficult not only because of the numerous assaults and close-quarters battles, but also because constant drone attacks have made logistics more difficult and dangerous. That complicates rotation, supplies and getting to assigned points. Ukrainian drones create the same problems for the Russians.
Despite their heavy losses, reports indicate that the Russians are continuing to send reinforcements. As of late September 2025, the Pokrovsk sector remains the most active part of the front. For SOF fighters and adjacent units, the fight is close and constant, and they rely on each other to stay alive and keep the enemy at bay.
Text: Albina Karman
Photos: Andriy Dubchak, Albina Karman
Adapted: Jared Goyette
