The Russian army continues to advance in the Donbas, while Ukraine carries out an offensive in Russia's Kusk region, BILD reported.
According to an analysis of the German publication, the Russian occupiers have captured two more settlements in the Pokrovsk region (Donetsk region) and are now only 13 kilometers from the city.
After the Russian army captured Avdeevka, it headed northwest toward Pokrovsk. BILD writes that the Ukrainian front in the Donetsk region continues to crumble: Russian invading forces have captured the villages of Zhelanne and Orlivka and are now only 13 km east of Pokrovsk. Before the war, nearly 80,000 people lived in Pokrovsk. It is now an important logistical point for Ukrainian forces.
Ukraine announced today that there were no signs of easing Russian military pressure on the eastern front on its territory, more than a week after it entered Russia, and reported the 24-hour day with the most fighting in weeks near the Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk, the agency reported Reuters, quoted by BTA.
Ukrainian forces carried out a cross-border attack on the Kursk region on August 6, seizing Russian territory, in what analysts say is an attempt to force Russia to send reinforcements from its reserve, the agency noted.
Ukrainian military spokesman Dmytro Likhovy said Russia had moved military units from the occupied territories in southern Ukraine to other areas, but no significant redeployment was seen so far. "There are no such significant changes in the number of divisions and in the number of their personnel that we can talk about a change or a lull [...] of military actions," Likhovi said on national television.
Sergiy Tsehotsky, an officer with the 59th Motorized Brigade, said there was no sign of easing Russian pressure in the partially occupied Donetsk region, where Russia has concentrated its attacks for months. "Regardless of what happens on the territory of Russia, the enemy still [...] keeps the majority of his troops here and is trying to achieve success," Tsehotsky also said on national television. He added that Russian forces had used all their available reservists in the eastern Donetsk region and had put under "severe pressure" Ukraine there.
Ukraine's army general staff reported 58 clashes in the past 24 hours between Kiev and Moscow forces on the front near the Ukrainian-held city of Pokrovsk, which is a major organizational hub. This is the highest number of fights in a single day overall this month. The popular Ukrainian military blog DeepState reports that Russia made progress on the villages of Zhelane and Orlivka on Ukraine's eastern front late last night.