Ukraine has deployed special forces to the embattled eastern city of Pokrovsk, where Russia has been mounting an intense assault, Kyiv's top military commander said Saturday.

Pokrovsk, in the eastern Donetsk region, lies on a major supply route for the Ukrainian army and has been in Moscow's sights for over a year.

The city was home to 60,000 people before the war but has now been largely devastated by fighting.

DeepState, an online battlefield map linked to the Ukrainian army, shows much of the city lies in a grey area where both Russian and Ukrainian forces are fighting for control.

"A comprehensive operation to destroy and displace enemy forces from Pokrovsk is under way," Ukrainian commander-in-chief Oleksandr Syrsky said in a post on Facebook.

"By my order, consolidated groups of

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