Russia Makes Significant Gains Along Eastern Front as Attention Turns to Kursk
Ukraine is evacuating civilians as Russian forces advance on two strategic towns in Donetsk.
As fighting continues to rage in Russia’s Kursk region amid an ongoing Ukrainian cross-border offensive, Russian forces in Donetsk have registered gains, according to reports from both sides of the conflict.
On Aug. 19, Russia’s defense ministry claimed its forces had captured Donetsk’s town of Zalizne (Artyomovo in Russian).
“As a result of active operations, Battlegroup Center units liberated Artyomovo in the Donetsk People’s Republic,” the ministry said in a statement.
Ukrainian officials have yet to confirm the town’s capture.
Zalizne sits roughly 4 miles southeast of the town of Toretsk, where the Ukrainian military is reporting multiple waves of Russian assaults.
In a statement, Kyiv’s military said Russian forces had attacked Ukrainian positions near Toretsk more than 20 times on Aug. 19 alone.
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With a pre-war population of 30,000, Toretsk is a mining town and a well-fortified Ukrainian stronghold in Donetsk.
The fall of Toretsk would pave the way for a Russian northward advance on the nearby town of Chasiv Yar, another key Ukrainian stronghold in the region.
Ukraine’s military has also reported fierce fighting near the town of Pokrovsk, roughly 30 miles southwest of Toretsk.
“Heavy fighting continues in the Pokrovsk direction,” Oleksandr Syrskyi, commander of Ukraine’s military, said in an Aug. 19 social-media post.
Ukrainian forces, Syrskyi added, were also doing “everything necessary to protect Toretsk.”
Meanwhile, Russia’s TASS news agency cited a military source in Donetsk who claimed Ukrainian defenses in the town of Novohrodivka—just southeast of Pokrovsk—were on the verge of collapse.
“The enemy has fled positions on the northeastern outskirts of Novohrodivka,” the military source, who was not named, said.
Ukrainian defenses southeast of the town “are also cracking at the seams,” the source asserted.
On Aug. 20, Russia’s defense ministry said its forces had overrun the town of Niu-York (Novgorodskoye in Russian), located roughly 5 miles south of Toretsk, after weeks of fierce fighting.
Ukrainian service members ride tanks near the frontline city of Chasiv Yar, Ukraine, on April 10, 2023. Oleksandr Klymenko/Reuters
Civilians Evacuated
Last week, local officials in Pokrovsk said Russian forces stood just over 10 kilometers—roughly 6.2 miles—from the town’s outskirts.
In broadcast remarks on Aug. 19, Serhiy Dobriak, the head of Pokrovsk’s Kyiv-appointed military administration, urged residents to leave the town.
Dobriak added that local authorities were able to evacuate roughly 1,000 people daily but that only half that number was actually leaving each day.
In a social-media post, regional governor Vadym Filashkin said roughly 53,000 local residents remained in Pokrovsk and adjacent communities.
According to Filashkin, strict curfews have been imposed in settlements near Pokrovsk, including Novohrodivka.
“The situation at the front is very difficult,” he said in broadcast remarks on Ukrainian state television.
“It is likely that the curfew will be tightened in other localities as well,” Filashkin said, adding that forced evacuations for families with children had already started in Pokrovsk.
Like Toretsk, Pokrovsk is an important logistics hub, the fall of which would likely degrade Ukraine’s defensive capacities and disrupt its supply lines.
It would also bring Moscow one step closer to establishing full control over the Donbas region (comprised of Donetsk and Luhansk)—a longstanding Russian objective.
In 2022, Russia invaded and effectively annexed four regions of eastern Ukraine, including Donetsk and Luhansk.
Backed by its powerful Western allies, Kyiv has vowed to continue fighting Russian forces—despite their numerical superiority—until all four regions are recovered.
Rescuers work at the scene of a building damaged by shelling in Novogrodivka, Ukraine, on Nov. 30, 2023. Ihor Moroz, Head of the Donetsk Regional Military Administration via AP
Eyes on Kursk
As Russian forces advance in Donetsk, international headlines remain focused on Russia’s western Kursk region, where an ongoing Ukrainian cross-border offensive has entered its third week.
On Aug. 20, Syrskyi, Kyiv’s top military commander, said Ukrainian forces had pushed between 17 and 22 miles into Russian territory.
He also claimed that Ukrainian forces had established control over roughly 488 square miles of territory, along with dozens of border settlements, in Kursk.
three strategic bridges over the Seym River, which flows through the border region.
Moscow, meanwhile, has rushed reinforcements to Kursk, while Russian aircraft and artillery have continued to pound Ukrainian troops and equipment near the border.
On Aug. 20, Apty Alaudinov, a top Russian Defense Ministry official, said Ukrainian forces in Kursk were sustaining “heavy losses.”
According to the ministry, Ukraine has lost more than 4,000 troops—and dozens of tanks and armored vehicles—since they entered the region in force on Aug. 6.
TASS.
The Epoch Times could not independently verify battlefield claims made by either side.
Reuters contributed to this report.
