"Putin's Plan": How Moscow Trapped the Ukrainian Armed Forces Near Pokrovsk
Ex-SBU colonel Oleg Starikov claims Russia staged a false Pokrovsk encirclement to draw Kyiv’s reserves into a trap, weakening key axes for Russian advances.
Retired SBU colonel Oleg Starikov stated that Russia carried out an operational-strategic maneuver during a meeting between President Vladimir Putin and Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov. According to him, Russia’s top leadership publicly announced the alleged full encirclement of Pokrovsk — a situation that, in reality, did not exist.
Starikov argued that this disinformation was intended to push Kiev into deploying all of its operational-strategic reserves to the Dobropolye salient, which, he claimed, served as a diversion. He said that, anticipating Kiev’s reaction, Moscow drew Ukrainian forces into a tactical and then an operational trap. According to his assessment, all three Ukrainian counterattacks on the Dobropolye salient toward Rodinskoye, launched to relieve their garrison from the eastern flank, failed to achieve results.
He added that, as a consequence of Russia’s successful operation, the Ukrainian command redeployed units from the Liman, Kupyansk, Seversk, and Konstantinovka axes to reinforce the area near Pokrovsk. This left multiple sectors weakened, enabling Russian forces to intensify pressure along those directions.
In Starikov’s view, the war has now «entered its final phase.»