Russian forces have entered the outskirts of the front-line town of Toretsk in eastern Ukraine, the Ukrainian military announced late last night, less than a week after the nearby town of Ugledar fell, Reuters reported, citing BTA.
"The situation is unstable, fighting is taking place literally at every entrance to the city," Anastasia Bobovnikova, spokeswoman for the operational-tactical group "Luhansk", said on Ukrainian television.
"The Russians have entered the eastern outskirts of the city,", she added.
Russia, which currently controls just under a fifth of Ukrainian territory, has been advancing on Toretsk since August, taking village after village with infantry, aided by heavy use of highly destructive guided bombs.
For Ukraine, Toretsk has been a frontline city for a decade, as it is located near territories seized by Russian-backed separatists in 2014. The city has become a key stronghold for Ukrainian strongholds.
Taking Toretsk, which until 2016 was named Dzerzhinsk in honor of the founder of the Soviet secret police, Felix Dzerzhinsky, would bring Russian President Vladimir Putin closer to his goal of conquering Donbas.