The skies above the heavily contested Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk are so saturated with drones that it's often too risky for military convoys to roll through the embattled streets as they would be a very visible and valuable target.

But as thick fog blanketed the area earlier this week, a video emerged on social media showing what appears to be a small group of Russian soldiers moving through Pokrovsk on motorcycles and in at least one car with missing doors.

The roughly 30-second clip shared by Russian military bloggers gave a brief glimpse into strategic battleground Pokrovsk, a bleak landscape eerily reminiscent of a dystopian film like Mad Max.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the bad weather was aiding Russia as it tries to infiltrate a city that it has been pushing toward for more than a year.

Frontline maps show that the city appears to be on the brink of falling, with some western military experts predicting that Russia is likely to eventually seize Pokrovsk and the nearby city of Myrnohrad.

“Things have changed because there are many more Russians than there was before,” said a Ukrainian drone operator who is only being identified by his callsign, Goose, in line with the country’s military protocol.

“[The Russians] are operating in small teams, but the last few days they use some vehicles and motorcycles.”

Embattled city

Goose, who is with the 68th Separate Jaeger Brigade of Ukraine’s Armed Forces, has been in Pokrovsk for several months.  He has an aerial view as Russia is coming closer to encircle the city which was home to 60,000 residents before Moscow launched its full-scale invasion on Feb. 24, 2022.

Unlike the battle for Bakhmut, where earlier in the war Russia staged a full assault on the city in the Donestk region, Russia’s military has been using a pincer-like movement to try to surround Pokrovsk from the south and the northeast.

With a few hundred troops now in the city, Russia is trying to establish offensive positions.

Outnumbered and nearly surrounded in key Ukrainian city

7 hours ago|

Duration 1:37

It is all part of a push to restrict Ukraine’s supply lines, and give Moscow a foothold to push further north and seize a greater chunk of the Donetsk region which the Kremlin has laid claim to, but doesn’t fully control.

Ukraine's top military commander Oleksandr Syrskyi has estimated that Russia is massing some 150,000 troops in the area, and Goose told CBC News in a Zoom interview on Tuesday that several hundred are already in the city

Pokrovsk 'grey zone'

He told CBC News that the entire urban area is a grey zone where neither Russia nor Ukraine maintains full control and the frontline is constantly shifting.

“We see their movements and they see ours,” he said.

“The area is controlled by drones.”

Col. Volodymyr Polevyi,  head of the communications department of the 7th Rapid Response Corps of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, told CBC News in a Zoom interview that the constant threat of drones has led to troops on both sides needing to alter their logistics.

Now, he says members of Ukraine’s infantry will now walk up to 10 km to reach their positions.

He said armoured vehicles are too big of a target, and Ukraine has too few of them.

When troops are on the ground, he says they are dispersed to small teams in an effort to not draw the attention from reconnaissance drones.

Polevyi estimated that Ukraine’s infantry in Pokrovsk is outnumbered by a ratio of 5:1 and that it still has air superiority through its frequent launches of glide bombs.

The basements of the city’s concrete structures have become military positions, and Polevyi says Ukraine needs to hold at least part of the city for as long as it can. If it loses complete control, he says, then troops will be forced into the nearby open fields where there is little cover and they will become easier targets.

1,000 residents remain

The city of Pokrovsk now lies mostly in ruin. For several months, residents had been urged to evacuate, but Ukrainian officials estimate that around 1,000 residents still remain.

Goose says when he is watching camera feeds from drones, he can sometimes  see civilians from outside trying to collect water or talk to a neighbour.

Polevyi says like in other frontline cities, some residents have chosen to disobey mandatory evacuation orders.

“They didn’t want to leave their homes, their property.”

“We do our best to save the life of these citizens, but unfortunately, sometimes it’s just... mission impossible.”