KYIV, AUGUST 19
Ukrainian authorities on Monday ordered families with children to urgently evacuate the eastern city of Pokrovsk, where the Russian army is bearing down fast despite a lightning Ukrainian incursion into Russia's Kursk region.
Local authorities said Russian forces are advancing so quickly that families must leave the city and other nearby towns and villages from Tuesday. Around 53,000 people still live in Pokrovsk, officials say, while some have already fled their homes as Russia's army menaces.
Pokrovsk is one of Ukraine's main defensive strongholds and a key logistics hub in the Donetsk region. Its capture would compromise Ukraine's defensive abilities and supply routes and would bring Russia closer to its stated aim of capturing the entire Donetsk region.
One of Kyiv's attempts to ease the pressure on its eastern front was the unexpected Aug. 6 incursion into Russia's Kursk region, which among other goals aimed to unnerve the Kremlin and compel it to split its military resources.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Sunday the daring incursion is trying to create a buffer zone that might prevent further attacks by Moscow across the border, especially with long-range artillery, missiles and glide bombs. That operation was continuing Monday under tight secrecy.
Russia's relentless six-month slog across Ukraine's Donetsk region following the capture of Avdiivka has cost it heavily in troops and armor. However, the onslaught has gradually paid dividends as Ukrainian defenders have no choice but to pull back from positions blown to pieces by Russian artillery, missiles and bombs.
Russia wants control of all parts of Donetsk and neighboring Luhansk, which together make up the Donbas industrial region.
In Pokrovsk residents have just two weeks to leave the city safely, officials said in an interview with the U.S.-funded Radio Liberty. Officials warned last week that Russian forces were rapidly advancing and were just 10 kilometers (6 miles) from the city's outskirts.
Oleksandr Syrskyi, Ukraine's Commander-in-Chief, said Monday that "heavy battles" were taking place in the Pokrovsk area.
The nearby town of Toretsk, whose capture would open the door for a Russian advance on the key stronghold of Chasiv Yar from the south, is also under heavy pressure, he said.
The Institute for the Study of War said Russian forces have been advancing roughly two square kilometers (0.8 square miles) per day in the Pokrovsk region over the past six months.
They have relied on frontal infantry assaults from village to village, notching incremental progress as they make their manpower and materiel advantages tell, the Washington-based think tank said late Sunday.
Pokrovsk officials were meeting with residents to provide them with logistical details on the evacuation. People were offered shelter in western Ukraine, where they will be hosted in dormitories and separate houses prepared for them.
