THIS is the moment Ukraine’s special forces launched a daring air assault from a helicopter in a desperate bid to slow Russia’s advance through the fortress town of Pokrovsk.
Kyiv’s elite GUR military intelligence agency shared video of its soldiers leaping off a Black Hawk chopper as drones hammered Russian positions in the bomb blitzed Donbas town.
The goal of the counter-offensive is to reopen supply lines to the besieged Ukrainian city.
Footage captured the mission as a GUR infiltration team made up of at least 10 soldiers swooped onto a field from a US made Black Hawk.
They then stormed Russian positions in a valiant assault as the chopper turns and roars away.
As the battle on the ground erupted, Ukraine also launched air attacks.
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They dropped bombs and deployed suicide drones on unsuspecting Russians targeting both the soldiers and their hideouts.
Russia’s defence ministry had tried to claim its forces had “repelled” the special forces and “eliminated” all 10 soldiers.
But Ukrainian defence sources swiftly said the Kremlin was again spurting out propaganda, according to RBC-Ukraine.
They added that the operation is still ongoing.
Details emerged as President Zelensky admitted some 300 Russian soldiers were now fighting inside the town’s limits.
Zelensky admitted the situation is “difficult” in Pokrovsk, as he said as of Friday that as many as 170,000 Russian troops were making gains in Donetsk.
Separately, a Ukrainian soldier claimed Kremlin troops were “in every district of the city”.
He said: “There is no good news from there. The situation remains tense.”
He added: “While Russian forces have not yet fully taken control of the city, fighting is ongoing.”
It is unclear if Ukraine is planning a retreat.
Open source maps showed troops in the city were at risk of being surrounded.
Ukraine’s GUR said: “Fierce fighting against the Russian occupiers is ongoing.”
They said the elite Tymur Special Forces launched the air assault to stop Russia‘s “from expanding its fire advantage over logistics routes”.
Russia has been attempting to capture the city for more than a year.
The crisis in Pokrovsk follows months of scorched earth bombardments that have turned the town into a hell scape of bombed and burned out buildings.
Sources claimed Russia’s best drone units had been hammering Ukraine’s supply lines – using tactics honed in Russia’s Kursk province, where Ukraine was forced to retreat in March.
The tactics include using wire-guided drones – which are tethered to their controllers by fibre-optic thread – to lie in ambush along key roads.
A pro-Kyiv war blogger wrote: “All that we are seeing today in Pokrovsk…happened mostly due to the unmanned forces of the Russians, who are blocking our logistics.
“The same crews that destroyed our logistics on the Kursk direction last winter and spring are still operating.”
The open source Deep State map of the frontlineshowed Russian troops made almost daily advances since 26 Oct, when they surged in from the southern side of the town.
Zelensky insisted on Monday that Russia “had no success over the past few days”.
But he added: “Pokrovsk is where 26 to 30 per cent of all frontline hostilities are taking place.
“And 50 per cent of all guided aerial bomb attacks are targeted at Pokrovsk.
“You can see how difficult it is for our soldiers.”
Last week Ukraine’s top general Oleksandr Syrskyi insisted his forces were not surrounded in Pokrovsk nor nearby Myrnohrad.
And he claimed the counter-assault was ongoing to push Russian forces back.
Pokrovsk straddles key road and rail links that Ukraine used to supply its troops in Donbas.
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But it has been forced to find alternatives as Russian forces advanced last year.
Separately Russian forces have made gains in Kupiansk, on the northeastern front, and in Kostiantynivka, to the east of Pokrovsk.
PUTIN’S u0022PRIZE JEWELu0022
ON Ukraine’s bloody frontline, the besieged town of Pokrovsk, dubbed Putin’s “prize jewel”, is being fiercely defended.
The key town of Pokrovsk is strategically critical for Putin’s territorial ambitions.
It is a vital railway and transport hub – which if captured could give Russia a huge supply line advantage, intelligence officer Philip Ingram told The Sun.
Nicknamed the “gateway to Donetsk” by Russian media, controlling the key crossroads city of Pokrovsk would make it lot easier for Putin to seize the rest of the area.
Detailing the gruelling battle, the military expert described it as a “cauldron” city – completely surrounded by Russian occupied land.
Ingram says: “Russia is trying to surround it [Pokrovsk] and close the sides of the cauldron in to isolate the Ukrainian troops that are stuck there.
“Ukraine has been defending it bravely for over a year now.
“This will remain Russia’s main effort in its battle to try and push the Ukrainians.
“Vladimir Putin himself has put this as something that is critically important for him.”
Comparing it to another tiresome battle fought between Russia and Ukraine, he adds: “This is another Bakhmut for the Russians.”
The fight for Bakhmut ended after months of tense fighting, bombing and drone strikes in 2023 – with some analysts describing it as the bloodiest battle of the entire war.