With Russian troops advancing towards the Ukranian town of Pokrovsk, authorities on Friday urged the civilians to speed up their evacuations. Russia's fierce advancement comes after Ukraine's incursion into Russia's Kursk region.
Russian President Vladimir Putin had said that Ukraine's incursion into the Kursk region is an attempt by Kyiv to stop Moscow's offensive in the Donbas region.
Donbas is predominantly Russian-speaking and after Russia seized Crimea in 2014, its proxy forces captured over a third of Ukraine's east. The Russian proxies created ‘people's republics’ that nobody recognised and Russia now aims to capture the rest of the East.
1. Russia has been making advances into Russian-speaking eastern Ukraine regions. On Friday Moscow claimed to have captured Serhiivka, about 15 km from Pokrovsk. Pokrovsk is located 70 km north-west of Russian-held Donetsk city. Donetsk city is a key logistics hub for Ukraine.
2. Russia is inching closer to the city of Pokrovsk by taking over tiny villages towards the city. Lysychne and Ivanivka, both north of Serhiivka and close to Pokrovsk were claimed by Russia as well.
3. Pokrovsk officials in a Telegram post said that the Russian troops are advancing at a fast pace. “With every passing day there is less and less time to collect personal belongings and leave for safer regions,” said officials.
4. Meanwhile, over the last few days Ukraine's advance into Russia has slowed. According to experts, there will be logical challenges including the supply of ammunition, food and fuel if Ukraine advances.
5. After Ukraine's Kursk incursion, the Russian forces have now been redeployed along the border and they are building "additional defensive positions in an effort to prevent Ukrainian advances". Russia had launched a “counter-terrorism” attack against Kyiv’s incursion into Kursk.
The intelligence had confirmed that Ukrainian troops have advanced to a depth ranging between 10-25 km over a frontage of approximately 40km.