However, Ukraine must ultimately decide whether it is militarily wiser to withdraw, said Lt. Col. Mattias Puusepp, head of the Estonian Defense Forces (EDF) division staff planning department.

Fierce fighting continues on the streets of Pokrovsk as the city's future hangs in the balance. Russia has long coveted Pokrovsk, an important transport hub, starting offensives there in summer last year, but so far Ukraine has hung on. From a pre-war population of over 60,000, the town's estimated civilian population as of July was less than 1,500.

"The situation is complicated and constantly changing. Both sides are putting different information out on the airwaves. The Russians are claiming that the Ukrainians have been encircled; the Ukrainians refute that every time. And it is very hard to say where the front line actually runs. It's all in a state of constant flux," Puusepp said.

This plus the nature of urban warfare almost means areas can be "held" by both sides at the same time.

"The Russians are certainly trying to advance as quickly as possible with the Ukrainians trying to stop them. The situation inside that town is probably such that the forces of both sides are completely mixed up. There may be Ukrainians and Russians in the same building. It is very hard to say exactly where the front should run," Puusepp said.

EDF intelligence chief Col. Ants Kiviselg said last Friday that, in his assessment, Pokrovsk could despite everything fall into Russian hands by the end of this year.

Puusepp said that the Russians are trying to infiltrate the town area with small units, seizing a position here and there and gradually reinforcing it. At the same time, according to Puusepp, this is a risky tactic and its chance of success is small, which means that the more experienced soldiers are being kept back in reserve.

Ukraine also faces its own challenges, principally relating to resources. "Ukraine does not have enough manpower to control the entire area. This inevitably creates some gaps which can be infiltrated. That has been the Russians' modus operandi: They try to press from many different directions and, when they find that one spot where it is possible to move forward from, they concentrate their forces there. The reason they operate in these small groups is that two or three people can be concealed much better in urban terrain than can larger units. Another aspect is that deploying armored vehicles in the town is challenging, given how shattered the town is. Then right away the armored vehicles become targets for drones," Puusepp said.

Host Epp Ehand asked why the Ukrainians are putting up such a stubborn resistance, considering that there is a constant risk of being, as it were, encircled by the Russians.

"I think that because that pocket has persisted there for some time, those positions are probably well prepared and allow them to hold the Russians back. In fact, it creates a dilemma: Every day won means additional losses for the Russians. To start withdrawing from there — which in such conditions is very dangerous and must be very well organized to reduce your losses — is not easy. They will certainly try to postpone that for as long as possible. But at some point you have to consider whether it is still militarily sensible to keep that unit down in the pocket or whether it would be wiser to withdraw. And of course that withdrawal must be very well prepared," Puusepp said.

Russian and Ukrainian forces continue campaigns in the Pokrovsk direction as the rate of Russian advances in and around Pokrovsk remains temporarily decreased, think tank the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) reported, observing no evidence to assess that Russian forces made additional advances in the Pokrovsk direction on November 9. This was consistent with recent Ukrainian reporting that Russian forces have slowed their tempo of ground activity in the Pokrovsk direction to extend logistics and bring up reinforcements to southern Pokrovsk, the ISW said.

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