Ukrainian pensioner Oleksandr Sopov barely reacts to the boom of artillery outside Pokrovsk, the eastern city where fierce battles are raging between Russian and Ukrainian forces.

The speed of Russia’s offensive towards Pokrovsk has left the residents in shock, with many fearing their city could soon fall under Russian control. Securing the Donetsk region, including Pokrovsk, remains a top priority for Russian forces.

Russian forces are now just three kilometers (1.9 miles) from the outskirts of the key eastern Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk after making advances Wednesday, according to Ukrainian mapping service DeepState.

Russia has deployed 150,000 soldiers to the three most active frontlines in eastern Ukraine. On the Pokrovsk direction, the Russian forces have concentrated 70,000 troops, RBC-Ukraine reports, citing Nazar Voloshyn,

Pope Francis urged Catholic priests on Sunday to guard against spiritual groups that stoke political divisions, speaking during a one-day visit to Corsica, the first by a pontiff to the French Mediterranean island.

Russian troops are closing in on Pokrovsk from the east and south. According to different sources, Russian forces are between 1-3 km away from the city's logistics hub on the western edge of Ukraine's Donetsk region.

Pokrovsk, situated about 18 kilometres (11 miles) from the boundary of Ukraine's Donetsk and Dnipropetrovsk regions, has for months been the area of the fiercest battles in Russia's 33-month-old full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Russian forces are around 3 kilometres (1.9 miles) to the south of the strategically important eastern Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk, open-source maps published by Russian and Ukrainian war bloggers show.