Pokrovsk is the last real hinge point before the Kramatorsk-Sloviansk defense belt gets operationally flanked. That line isn’t just a few trenches, it’s Ukraine’s eastern Maginot—years of fortification, supply caching, and layered kill zones. But all that turns into a death trap if the RF pushes west and starts wrapping the flanks with mobility fires.

Ukrainian forces would have to either:

> a) pull back under fire to avoid encirclement, or
> b) stay put and risk getting kettled in a cauldron op.

From there? Russia’s got two options:

> 1. Drive northwest, collapse the Sloviansk-Kramatorsk line via rear interdiction, hit command/control nodes, logistics depots, and air defense nests.

> 2. Pivot west, push toward the Dnipro river, seize key junctions, and split the country along its operational axis. That would be a classic corps-level offensive: isolate the eastern Ukrainian forces, cut off Western resupply corridors, and create the political conditions for forced concessions.