Maj. Hryhoriy Shapoval, a spokesman for Operational Command East, stated that Sukhetske, Suvorove, Nikanorivka, Dorozhne, Ivanivka, Nove Shakhove, Novyi Donbas, and Vilne remain fully in Ukrainian hands.
"They are under the Defense Forces," Ukrinform state news agency quoted Shapoval.
"The enemy is trying to press and carry out artillery strikes, using drones, but, taken individually, those settlements are not even in the 'gray zone."
He said Ukrainian troops are conducting spoiler operations to prevent Russian advances and are carrying out similar operations across the Pokrovsk agglomeration and its outskirts. Shapoval added that Russian forces continue to use small infantry groups, a tactic that is critically depleting their manpower.
The spokesman said the villages he named lie north of Pokrovsk and that Russian forces are trying to mass troops around the Pokrovsk–Myrnohrad agglomeration to increase pressure. Ukrainian forces have been building additional logistical routes and laying mines along routes used by Russian troops, he added.
Earlier media reporting cited the analytical project DeepState, which said the gray shading on its maps indicates areas where Russian forces have penetrated Ukrainian lines. DeepState placed the villages north of Pokrovsk firmly in the “gray zone.”