Financial Times reports that Ukraine may lose Pokrovsk due to a shortage of personnel. According to the paper, the situation on the front line is deteriorating: the army lacks enough troops to hold the defensive line, and the attempt to maintain control of the city at any cost is deepening the internal crisis and demoralization.
Citing its report, Financial Times writes that Ukraine risks losing Pokrovsk due to severe manpower shortages, and that the attempt to hold the city at all costs—with mounting casualties—is further discouraging men from joining the army.
The newspaper says several military and civilian experts are urging the authorities to order a withdrawal before the situation turns catastrophic. Among them is former deputy defense minister Vitaliy Deineha, who described the situation as “complex and uncontrollable.”
Soldiers and analysts note that the crisis in Pokrovsk stems primarily from a lack of troops: Ukrainian forces are stretched along a front line more than a thousand kilometers long. “This could have been avoided if we had more people and hundreds—if not thousands—of ballistic missiles… To liberate a city of this size, you’d need a huge amount of manpower, and we just don’t have it,” said Ukrainian serviceman Artem Karyakin.
Pokrovsk, October 2025.
AFP
The inability to stop Russia’s gradual advance deeper into the city, the paper notes, reflects the stark imbalance in troop numbers. In addition to a shortage of new recruits, Kyiv faces rising desertion: many soldiers leave before even reaching their assigned units. “As a result, the size of the ground forces isn’t growing—it’s shrinking,” said Konrad Muzyka, director of Poland’s Rochan Consulting. According to him, “the density of Ukrainian troops is now so low that some sectors of the front are effectively monitored only by drones.”
Among the military, there is growing concern that Kyiv’s determination to hold Pokrovsk could lead to a repeat of other lost cities—a chaotic and bloody retreat under fire. Such an outcome, experts warn, would only deepen public reluctance to join the army.