A
volunteer of East SOS assists resident Andrii Ostorozhnyi who is
evacuating his home because of Russian advances, amid Russia's attack on
Ukraine, in Selydove near Pokrovsk, Ukraine, August 22, 2024.
REUTERS/Thomas Peter/File photo Purchase Licensing Rights
Putin says Russia advancing fast - by kilometres - in eastern Ukraine
MOSCOW,
Sept 2 (Reuters) - Russian forces are advancing faster in eastern
Ukraine than they have done for a long time, taking several square
kilometres per day, President Vladimir Putin said on Monday as Moscow's
forces tried to smash through a major Ukrainian defensive line.
Russian
forces, which control 18% of Ukraine, have been advancing in eastern
Ukraine since the failure of Kyiv's 2023 counter-offensive to achieve a
major breakthrough.
Despite a major Ukrainian incursion
into Russia's Kursk region that began on Aug. 6, the numerically
stronger Russian army has in recent weeks been thrusting relatively
swiftly though settlements in eastern Ukraine on the approach to the
strategically important city of Pokrovsk.
"We
have not had such a pace in the offensive in Donbas (region) for a long
time," Putin told children at Secondary School No. 20 in Kyzyl, Tuva,
about 4,500 km (2,800 miles) east of Moscow.
"Now
we are not talking about moving 200 or 300 metres (660 or 1,000 feet)
forward ... The Russian armed forces are already bringing territories
under control not by 200-300 metres but by square kilometres."
Pro-Russian
military bloggers said on Monday that Russian forces were now fighting
in the eastern Ukrainian towns of Selydove and Ukrainsk. There was no
immediate comment from Ukraine on the reported Russian advance.
Yuri
Podolyaka, an influential Ukrainian-born, pro-Russian military blogger,
said that intense battles were underway in Selydove, about 20 km (12
miles) south of Pokrovsk, and in Ukrainsk, about 14 km (nine miles)
south of Selydove.
He
said both sides were pushing forces into the battles for the towns,
which had populations of over 20,000 and 10,000 respectively before
full-scalewar began in February 2022.
The
pro-Russian blogger Rybar also said that fighting was going on in both
towns. Russian state news agency TASS said that Ukrainian forces had
been driven out of a part of Selydove.
By
pushing south towards the town of Kurakhivka, Russian forces are
seeking to break through Ukrainian defensive lines while increasing
their sway over the Pokrovsk-Donetsk road and encircling a chunk of
territory, Russian bloggers said.
Russia
has been trying to expel Ukrainian forces from its southern Kursk
region after Kyiv's Aug. 6 incursion, which was designed partly to
pressure Russian generals to scramble forces from other parts of the
eastern front in Ukraine.
Russian
forces have taken control of the village of Skuchne in the eastern
Donetsk region, RIA news agency cited Russia's Defence Ministry as
saying on Monday.
Reporting by Reuters Writing by Guy Faulconbridge Editing by Andrew Osborn and Mark Heinrich