It is probably Russian President Vladimir Putin’s most cynical and ridiculous gambit yet: proposing a temporary ceasefire in Pokrovsk so his “journalists” can confirm that the Ukrainian-held city of Pokrovsk is surrounded and doomed. It is neither – and life for the Russian troops who have crept into the urban area of Pokrovsk has become nasty, brutish, and short.

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We can call Pokrovsk what it is now – a deadly three-dimensional urban battlefield. A kill box, like Bakhmut, that greatly favors the Ukrainian defenders. You may be sure that Russia will pour tens of thousands of forces into the city, and most of them will die in the rubble. Just like Bakhmut.

As this battle unfolds, it is Ukraine that will dictate the time, place, and pace of battle. It is Ukraine, and not Russia, who will decide how many resources Kyiv will put into the defense of what is left of Pokrovsk.

Russia has again blundered into a classic “attritional battle” ripped right out of the pages of von Clausewitz. With causality rates remaining firm at 5:1, these battle sap Russian manpower, vehicles, fuel, ammunition and morale.

A look at the map will underscore what Russia will “gain” from occupying Pokrovsk. For again, like Bakhmut, the options for Russian advancement beyond the city are as vague as they are pointless. Open country, rolling fields, little or no cover – a place of drone strikes, crushing counterbattery fire, and minefields.