Moscow (Reuters) – Russia’s defense ministry announced on Saturday that the army had taken control of the settlement of Shevchenko, near the logistical center of Pokrovsk, a key target in its advance through Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region. Ukraine’s military, however, made no mention of the village in its latest report of frontline activity, but did state that Russia launched more than 50 attacks against its forces near Pokrovsk over the past 24 hours.
According to the Russian military report, their forces’ “decisive action” led to the capture of Shevchenko, which is about 3 kilometers west of Pokrovsk. The report also stated that Russian troops conducted air, drone, and missile strikes on Ukrainian military airfields and energy infrastructure serving the army. The report did not provide further details on the attacks.
Ukraine’s General Staff reported that its forces repelled 46 of 56 Russian attacks in the Pokrovsk sector, with 10 ongoing clashes. The governor of the part of Donetsk region held by Ukrainian forces, Vadym Filashkin, said one resident was killed and four were injured when a village north of Pokrovsk came under Russian shelling.
Russia’s forces have been advancing westward in Donetsk region for several months, recording their fastest progress since the Kremlin launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Russia’s RIA news agency issued a report from one of its correspondents in Kurakhove, another logistics center south of Pokrovsk, which Russia’s military announced as having been captured earlier in the week. Ukraine has yet to acknowledge the loss of the town, but the popular Ukrainian blog DeepState reported that the town is in Russian hands.
