Ukrainian military officials urged civilians in the eastern Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk to speed up their evacuations on Friday as Russian troops started rapidly closing in on what has been a key target for months.
The local officials stressed that Russian forces were “advancing at a fast pace” as intense fighting continued throughout the frontline region.
“With every passing day there is less and less time to collect personal belongings and leave for safer regions,” Pokrovsk officials warned in a Telegram post.
“As the front line approaches Pokrovsk, the need to move to a safer place is becoming increasingly urgent.”
Pokrovsk is one of Ukraine’s main defensive strongholds and is considered a key logistics hub in the Donetsk region.
Its capture by Russian troops would compromise Ukraine’s defensive abilities and supply routes — and would ultimately bring Moscow closer to its ultimate aim of capturing the entire Donetsk region.
The Russian onslaught on Pokrovsk comes as Ukrainian troops have been trying to divert the Kremlin’s military focus away from the front line by launching last week’s surprise counter-invasion into Russia’s Kursk region.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had warned Thursday that the Pokrovsk area and other nearby towns were “facing the most intense Russian assaults.”
Local officials were scrambling to meet with residents Friday to provide them with logistical details on the evacuation — including offering them shelter in dorms and alternate housing in western Ukraine.
Goose, an aerial reconnaissance soldier with Ukraine’s 68th Separate Airborne Brigade who is helping defend the city, told the Associated Press that the Russian were “advancing.”
“The Russians have the same tactics of infantry assaults: They are moving, advancing,” Goose, who spoke using his call sign, said.
He added that Russia was destroying hope of Ukraine holding the territory with the use of powerful aerial bombs.
“Russians are destroying and moving, destroying and moving,” he said.
Meanwhile, over in Kursk, Zelensky said that Ukrainian troops had taken full control of Sudzha — the largest Russian town to fall to Ukraine’s forces since the start of their Aug. 6 incursion.
Ukraine’s army chief Oleksandr Syrskyi added that Kyiv’s forces were still advancing in some areas in the Kursk region.
Syrskyi has previously said Ukraine forces have already taken control of 82 settlements over an area of 444 square miles in the region.
“In general, the situation is under control, everything is carried out following the plan,” Syrskyi said as he briefed Zelensky via video link.
With Post wires
