Russian forces have made further advancements into several eastern Ukrainian towns, bringing them closer to capturing the strategic city of Pokrovsk, according to reports from Russian and Ukrainian military bloggers.
In a post on the Telegram messaging app late Saturday, DeepState, a group closely linked to the Ukrainian army that analyzes combat footage, reported that “the enemy advanced in Selydove.” The group shared a map indicating Russian troops in the southeast of the coal mining town in Ukraine’s Donetsk region.
Russian forces have been storming Selydove for the past week, with capturing the town seen as a crucial step in paving the way for a Russian advance on the logistical hub of Pokrovsk, located 20 km (12 miles) to the northwest. The Russian news outlet SHOT claimed on Telegram that Moscow’s troops now control 80% of Selydove.
Denis Pushilin, the Russian-installed head of the Donetsk region, stated that Russian forces had hoisted their unit’s flag on the roof of a building in the town of Hirnyk, some 14 km south of Selydove, according to Russia’s state news agency RIA.
Russian military bloggers also reported that Russian forces were close to taking over the town of Kurakhove, just southwest of Hirnyk.
Reuters could not independently verify the reports, and Ukraine has not commented on them.
In its evening report on Saturday, Ukraine’s Armed Forces said that Kyiv forces had repelled 36 Russian attacks along the Pokrovsk frontline in the previous day, including in the area of Selydove, while several battles were still ongoing.
Following the failure of Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 to seize the capital Kyiv and achieve a decisive victory, President Vladimir Putin scaled back his war ambitions to focus on taking the old industrial heartland in Ukraine’s east known as Donbas, which covers the Luhansk and Donetsk regions.
Last month, Russian forces advanced in the Donbas region at their fastest rate since March 2022, according to open source data, despite Ukraine taking a part of Russia’s Kursk region.
