War is already the dystopia that George Miller imagined

In recent weeks, the Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk has become the new epicenter of wear harshest military of the war. What began as a key logistics and supply point for kyiv’s forces in Donbas has been transformed in a trap where the Ukrainian army struggles to maintain a viable defense against the constant push of Russian troops.

The last scene shown on video brings us closer to a dystopia than ever.

On the verge of collapse. In early November, former officers and civilian figures such as Vitaliy Deynega, founder of the organization Come Back Alivethey warned that the situation “is more than complicated and less than controlled,” asking for withdrawal before the city was completely surrounded.

The reality on the ground reflected that urgency: the Ukrainian defensive lines were increasingly thinnerwith a force of only four to seven infantry per kilometer of front, while Russia continued to fuel its offensive with a constant flow of men and material. The Ukrainian brigades, exhausted and diminished, faced a dilemma that summarizes the current phase of the conflict: either resist to preserve the narrative of firmness, or withdraw to save lives in the face of an enemy with numerical superiority and the capacity to replenish.

The weight of scarcity and exhaustion. I remembered the financial times that the battle for Pokrovsk has highlighted a problem that kyiv has tried to avoid publicly acknowledging: its military personnel deficit. Desertions are increasing, new recruits are scarce, and many men are avoiding mobilization. Only in October they opened almost 20,000 cases for unauthorized absences or abandonment of units, the highest number of the year.

This collapse in replenishment has led to many positions being held by drone units and volunteers, rather than by conventional infantry force. Military analyst Konrad Muzyka describe the situation as a “real decrease in the size of the ground forces”, with sectors of the front practically monitored only by drones.

More money. President Zelenskyy has attempted to reverse this trend by short contractsamnesties for deserters and incentivized recruitments, but the results have not yet arrived.

Meanwhile, Russian forces They have taken advantage of the gap– Your assault squads, reinforced with well-paid volunteers, infiltrate destroyed urban areas, occupying tall buildings and cutting off supply corridors connecting Pokrovsk to Myrnohrad. Each Ukrainian withdrawal movement seems like a repetition of other fallen cities: Bakhmut, Avdiivka, Vuhledar.

The Russian dystopian emergence. In this context of exhaustion, Russia has intensified its offensive in both Pokrovsk and Kupiansk, applying pincer tactics to isolate key urban centers and secure the railway axes that feed its military logistics. The statements of the Russian Ministry of Defense announce partial conquests (oil depots, train stations, industrial neighborhoods), while propaganda channels broadcast videos showing Russian columns advancing in the middle of the fog on roads covered in rubble.

The imagesgeolocated south of Pokrovsk, portray a almost apocalyptic scenario: motorcycles and trucks without doors, soldiers perched on the roofs and a dense silence interrupted only by the drone of drones. This trailer, which is reminiscent of scenes almost traced from the Mad Max sagasymbolizes the harshness of the war of attrition in eastern Ukraine.

Extra ball. In that sense, the fog has played a crucial tactical rolereducing the effectiveness of Ukrainian air surveillance and allowing Russian units to penetrate the southern suburbs. For Moscow, Pokrovsk represents more than a territorial conquest: it is the step towards Kramatorsk and Sloviansk, the strategic jewels of industrial Donbas.

Symbol of resistance. Despite the Russian advance, the Ukrainian army continues to resist inside the city, where it is estimated that they remain more than 300 enemy soldiers. Local units, such as the 7th Rapid Response Corps, have communicated who continue to identify and neutralize Russian groups in urban combat and keep the supply to Myrnohrad operational, although with increasing difficulties.

However, the tension between the official narrative and the reality on the ground is palpable: while Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi affirms that the situation “is under control,” independent civilian and military reports describe an increasingly tight siege.

The human limit. Many analysts agree with one idea: the decision to maintain the position at all costs could have psychological consequences devastating if the retreat turns into a chaotic defeat under fire, repeating the Bakhmut patterns.

With exhausted forces and a militarized population resisting new calls, Pokrovsk embodies the physical and moral border of the Ukrainian war effort. If it falls, it will open not only a military corridor to the heart of Donbas, but also a new chapter in the war: that of a country forced to redraw its strategy with fewer men, more machines and a determination tested like never before.

Image | YouTube

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