Russian war correspondent Alexander Kots stated that the video showing Russian troops advancing into Pokrovsk under fog cover ultimately caused harm to Russian forces. He explained that the footage, filmed three days before publication, revealed the route of the advance. After the video appeared online, Ukrainian forces mined the same road, making it impassable and exposing the Russian position along the Donetsk highway.

Kots noted that the fog on that day was not an advantage unique to either side. Since Russia has no means of controlling the weather, both forces operated under the same conditions. The Ukrainian military, he added, likely used the fog in a similar way, only without publicizing their movements.

According to his assessment, the Ukrainian Armed Forces used the same fog cover to move reinforcements, ammunition, and supplies into the city. He pointed to recent battlefield dynamics to support this conclusion: two weeks earlier, when the blockade of Pokrovsk and Mirnograd was announced, Ukrainian units were attempting to break out of the city three to four times more often than entering it. Now, the situation has completely reversed — the Russian Defense Ministry is registering up to fourteen daily attempts by Ukrainian troops to enter Pokrovsk.