Russian forces have advanced further into several eastern Ukrainian towns, bringing them closer to capturing the strategic city of Pokrovsk, Russian and Ukrainian bloggers said.
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“The enemy advanced in Selydove,” DeepState, a group with close links to the Ukrainian army that analyses combat footage, wrote on the Telegram messaging app late on Saturday. It posted a map indicating Russian troops in the town’s southeast.
Russian forces have been storming the coal mining town of Selydove in Ukraine’s Donetsk region for the past week. Capturing it would pave the way for a Russian advance on the logistical hub of Pokrovsk 20 kilometres northwest.
The Russian news outlet SHOT said on Telegram that Moscow’s troop control 80 per cent of Selydove.
The Russian-installed head of Donetsk region, Denis Pushilin, said Russian forces had hoisted their unit’s flag on the roof of one of the buildings in the town of Hirnyk, some 14 kilometres south of Selydove, Russia’s state news agency RIA reported.
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Russian military bloggers also reported that Russian forces were close to taking over the town of Kurakhove, just southwest of Hirnyk.