POKROVSK REGION, Ukraine (AP) — A dire shortage of infantry troops and supply routes coming under Russian drone attacks are conspiring against Ukrainian forces in Pokrovsk, where decisive battles in the nearly three-year war are playing out — and time is running short.

Russia blasted Ukraine with a massive bombardment, launching 42 missiles and 123 drones in a coordinated assault, marking the first large-scale attack since Jan. 15. Ukrainian air defense forces intercepted 56 drones,

Russia has lost about twice as many men to death and serious injury as Ukraine. But the trends favor the Kremlin.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says that excluding his country from talks between the U.S. and Russia about the war in Ukraine would be “very dangerous.”