Russia takes Ukrainian town in advance on Pokrovsk
By Reuters
September 8, 202412:04 PM EDTUpdated 2 hours agoItem 1 of 2 Ukraine artillerymen, ear Pokrovsk, September 5, 2024. Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty/Serhii Nuzhnenko via REUTERS
[1/2]Ukraine artillerymen, ear Pokrovsk, September 5, 2024. Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty/Serhii Nuzhnenko via REUTERS Purchase Licensing Rights - Russia's defence ministry claims control of Novohrodivka near Pokrovsk
- Ukrainian General Staff reports fierce battles in Pokrovsk sector
- Putin says Ukrainian incursion into Kursk failed to slow Russian advance
MOSCOW,
Sept 8 (Reuters) - Russia said on Sunday its forces had taken full
control of a town in eastern Ukraine as Moscow's forces advance on the
strategically important city of Pokrovsk and seek to pierce the
Ukrainian defensive front lines.
Russian forces, which control about a fifth of Ukraine since
invading in February 2022,
are advancing in eastern Ukraine in an attempt to take the whole of the
Donbas, which is about half the size of the U.S. state of Ohio.
Russia's
defence ministry said its forces had taken the town of Novohrodivka,
which lies 12 km (7 miles) from Pokrovsk, an important rail and road hub
for Ukrainian forces in the area. The town had a population of 14,000
before the war.
Yuri
Podolyaka, an influential Ukrainian-born, pro-Russian military blogger,
published maps showing Russian forces attacking beyond Novohrodivka in
at least two places less than 7 km (4 miles) from Pokrovsk.
The
General Staff of the Ukrainian military, in a late afternoon report,
described the situation as "tense" throughout the Pokrovsk sector and
said "fierce battles" gripped areas around several towns, including
Novohrodivka.
"So far, the enemy has carried out 23 assaults on Ukrainian positions," the report said. Battles are going on in six locations."
Reuters was unable to immediately verify battlefield reports from either side due to restrictions on reporting in the war.
President
Vladimir Putin
said last week that a Ukrainian incursion into the Russian region of
Kursk had failed to slow Russia's own advance in eastern Ukraine and had
weakened Kyiv's defences along the front line in a boost to Moscow.
Ukraine's
top military commander said on Thursday that Kyiv's incursion into the
Kursk region was working and that there had been no Russian advances on
Pokrovsk for the previous six days.
He
said that one of the objectives of the Kursk incursion was to divert
Russian forces from other areas, primarily Pokrovsk and Kurakhove.
Russia had diverted large numbers to Kursk, but was also strengthening
the Pokrovsk front, he added.
Ukrainian
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said the Kursk operation was also to
prevent Russian forces from crossing the border in the opposite
direction.
Russia
currently controls about 80% of Donbas. Given the speed of recent
Russian advances in the east, some Russian war bloggers have raised
concern about the army overreaching itself.
Putin
ordered tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine more than two and a
half years ago in what he calls a special military operation. Ukraine
and its Western backers have vowed to defeat Russian forces and expel
all Russian troops.
Reporting
by Guy Faulconbridge; Additional reporting by Reuters bureau in Kyiv;
Editing by Jan Harvey, Ron Popeski and Matthew Lewis