Russia said its forces entered the Ukrainian cities of Pokrovsk and Kupyansk even deeper today, Reuters reported, BTA reported.
One of the distributed videos shows Russian soldiers entering Pokrovsk on motorcycles and even on the roofs of battered cars and vans.
Moscow claims that the capture of Pokrovsk, called by Russian media "the gate to Donetsk", will give its forces a springboard for an advance north towards the two largest cities in Donetsk region, which are under Ukrainian control - Kramatorsk and Slavyansk.
Russia has been trying to capture Pokrovsk for more than a year, using a tactic that seeks to encircle Ukrainian forces and threatens to cut off access to supply lines, rather than carrying out frontal attacks that have led to heavy casualties, such as the one it used to capture the city of Bakhmut in 2023, Reuters notes.
The Ukrainian military said about 300 Russian soldiers were in Pokrovsk and that Moscow had stepped up efforts to bring in even more troops in recent days, using thick fog as cover.
Russian military bloggers posted a video on Monday showing Russian troops entering Pokrovsk on a fog-shrouded road that some Telegram users said resembled scenes from the action movie "Mad Max" from 1979, which takes place in a post-apocalyptic landscape.
The video shows Russian servicemen on motorcycles and in a strange mix of cars and other vehicles. Many of the cars, without doors or windows, are seen driving along a road strewn with debris as the soldiers watch the destruction around them. Some Russian soldiers are even seen sitting on the roofs of damaged vehicles. The footage also shows an unmanned aerial vehicle near the road.
Reuters was unable to confirm from the layout of the road, signs, communications tower and trees seen in the footage that the location where the video was shot was in Pokrovsk, and it matches archival and satellite images of the area. Reuters has not been able to independently confirm the date the video was shot.
Moscow and Kiev have been giving different versions of the battle for Pokrovsk - Moscow has claimed for days that the city is under siege, while Kiev denies Russian forces are in control of it, and said yesterday that it is still able to supply nearby Mirnograd.
Open sources with battlefield maps from both sides show that Russia has carried out maneuvers in which it tried to encircle its enemy's positions, and is close to completely closing them, although Kiev has launched a counterattack near the town of Dobropiliya.
In an interview with the "New York Post" The commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian armed forces, General Oleksandr Syrsky, said that Russia had concentrated about 150,000 troops in the offensive to capture Pokrovsk, with mechanized brigades and marines participating in part of the offensive.
Russia said its forces had established full control over the eastern part of Kupyansk in Ukraine's Kharkiv region and were actively advancing northwest and east of Pokrovsk. The Defense Ministry in Moscow also said that Russian forces had captured the village of Novouspenivske in Zaporizhia region.
Reuters notes that it cannot independently confirm the information from the battlefield.
A Russian commander, who introduced himself by the call sign "Hunter" and identified himself as the commander of the 1486th Motorized Rifle Regiment of the Ground Forces of the Russian Federation, said his forces had taken control of an oil depot in the eastern part of Kupyansk.
In a video message released by the Russian Defense Ministry, he said his forces had also taken control of a number of railway stations on the line to Kupyansk Vazlovy, a settlement located about 6 kilometers south of the center of the city of Kupyansk itself.
Reuters was unable to independently verify the information from the battlefield due to restrictions on access to information and the danger in the combat zone.
Russia claims to currently control more than 19 percent of Ukraine's territory, or about 116,000 square kilometers. Ukrainian maps tracking developments on the front line show that Russian forces control 19.1 percent of Ukraine's territory, up from 18 percent three years ago.