Russia said on Monday that its troops had advanced in the eastern Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk, a transport and logistics hub that they have been trying to capture for over a year, but Ukraine said its forces were holding on.
The country's Defence Ministry said its soldiers were destroying what it described as surrounded Ukrainian formations near Pokrovsk's railway station and industrial zone, and had entered the city's Prigorodny area and dug in there.
Reuters could not independently verify the battlefield reports.
The Ukrainian military said Russian troops were not in full control of any district of the city.
"The invaders continue to attack in small groups of up to five soldiers, without using armored vehicles," the operation task force responsible for Ukraine's eastern front line said on Facebook.
Ukraine's 7th Rapid Response Corps said Ukrainian forces had thwarted an attempt to cut off a supply route from Rodynske, to the north.
Pokrovsk had a pre-war population of some 60,000 people, but most civilians fled its ruins long ago. Capturing it could give Moscow a platform to drive towards Kramatorsk and Sloviansk, the two biggest remaining Ukrainian-controlled cities in the Donetsk region which Russia wants to capture in its entirety.
North of Pokrovsk, however, Ukraine has recorded recent gains near Dobropillia. Army chief Oleksandr Syrskyi said his forces had stepped up pressure there with the aim of forcing Russia to divert its focus away from Pokrovsk.
Kyiv's troops have advanced near the eastern Ukrainian town of Dobropillia, recapturing 188 square kilometers held by Russian forces as well as a further 250 square kilometers previously controlled by neither side, Ukraine's army chief said on Monday.
Pokrovsk is a road and rail hub in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region with a pre-war population of some 60,000 people. Most people have now fled, all children have been evacuated and few civilians remain amid its pulverised apartment buildings and cratered roads.
Ukraine's only mine producing coking coal - used in its once vast steel industry - is around six miles (10 km) west of Pokrovsk. Ukrainian steelmaker Metinvest said in January it had suspended mining operations there.
The city lies on a key road which has been used by the Ukrainian military to supply other embattled outposts.
A technical university in Pokrovsk, the region's largest and oldest, now stands abandoned, damaged by shelling.
If it falls, Pokrovsk will be the most important Russian territorial gain inside Ukraine since Moscow took the ruined city of Avdiivka in early 2024 after one of the bloodiest battles of the war.
Azerbaijan and the UK have pledged to strengthen defence, trade and education cooperation after signing a joint declaration elevating relations to ...
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said on Friday it had targeted a U.S. early-warning radar system in Bahrain, raising fresh co...
More than 333,000 people have been forced from their homes in Yemen since the beginning of August as fighting has escalated, including more than&nb...
European leaders gathered in Dublin on Thursday, 12 November, for the ninth European Political Community (EPC) summit, with security, defence and energy high on the agenda. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev held talks focused on peace, trade and regional cooperation.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres delivered a stark warning at this year's COP31 summit, saying the climate crisis iss advancing faster than governments' efforts to contain it.
Iran will not let a single particle of its enriched nuclear material leave the country, and any new U.S. attack would be met with strikes on distant American bases, Iranian security chief Mohsen Rezaei has said.
Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang is stepping down amid reports linking him to a woman suspected by U.S. authorities of spying for China, throwing the future of the $4 trillion chipmaker into uncertainty.
Here's your AnewZ Daily Brief for 11 November. Today, we cover Russia-Ukraine peace talks, political tensions in Washington, strikes in Spain, espionage allegations involving Nvidia's CEO, and climate negotiations at COP31 in Türkiye.
Azerbaijan and the UK have pledged to strengthen defence, trade and education cooperation after signing a joint declaration elevating relations to a strategic level in Dublin, Ireland on Thursday (12 November).
More than 333,000 people have been forced from their homes in Yemen since the beginning of August as fighting has escalated, including more than 24,000 in the past week alone, the United Nations said on Thursday.
A court in Russia’s Baltic exclave of Kaliningrad has sentenced human rights lawyer Maria Bontsler to 12 years in prison on treason charges, after prosecutors accused her of passing sensitive information to Ukraine.
U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened to double tariffs on Mexico unless it stops more than a thousand migrants who are walking north towards the United States, warning that they will be denied entry.
A gunman shot dead his building’s manager and wounded four other people in Washington, D.C. on Thursday, before barricading himself inside his apartment and taking his own life after a standoff with police, officials said.
You can download the AnewZ application from Play Store and the App Store.
What is your opinion on this topic?
Leave the first comment