Russia said on Tuesday its forces had taken control of what it described as the strategically important logistics hub of Niu-York in eastern Ukraine, part of Moscow’s grinding drive to capture the entire Donetsk region.
Even as Ukrainian troops seek to advance in Russia’s Kursk region after a surprise cross-border attack that began on August 6th, the fate of Niu-York – which was not independently confirmed – is a reminder that Russian forces are still pressing on with their own offensive in eastern Ukraine.
Russia separately announced the formation of new military groupings in Kursk and two other border regions as it tries to repel the incursion without diverting forces from front lines deep inside Ukraine.
Defence minister Andrei Belousov said a new co-ordinating body had “already” begun working round the clock to liaise between regional authorities, troop commanders and the defence ministry.
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But the timing of his announcement – a full two weeks after Ukrainian forces smashed through Russia’s western border – served to emphasise the delayed nature of Moscow’s response. He did not say why such smooth co-ordination had not been possible previously.
[ Military analysis: Kursk incursion heaps pressure on Ukraine’s eastOpens in new window ]
[ ‘People are horrified’: Moscow turns to reluctant conscripts to defend KurskOpens in new window ]
Ukraine’s top commander Oleksandr Syrskyi said on Tuesday his forces had pushed 28-35km into Russia, capturing 1,263sq km of territory including 93 settlements. Russia has vowed to crush the incursion, but has shown no sign it is close to expelling Ukrainian forces.
The operation has boosted Ukrainian morale, and Kyiv believes the seizure of territory and Russian prisoners has strengthened its hand in any potential negotiation.
But independent military analysts say Kyiv has gambled by pulling some of its most effective combat units away from the defence of front lines in eastern Ukraine, where Russia is continuing to advance.
The capture of Niu-York, if confirmed by Ukraine, would mark another incremental success for Russia and would open the door to further possible strategically important gains. The town, whose name is pronounced like “New York”, has been devastated by heavy shelling and bombing by Russian forces who have used drones to dislodge Ukrainian forces from fortified positions.
With a pre-war population of just under 10,000, thousands of whom have since fled the fighting, the town is on the railway line to Sloviansk, one of the cities in Donetsk which Moscow has long wanted to take.
Donetsk is one of four Ukrainian regions that Russia says it has annexed even though it does not fully control all of it, a territorial claim which Kyiv and the West have rejected as illegal and one which Ukraine has vowed to reverse by force.
Russian state TV correspondent Yevgeny Poddubny, who this month survived a Ukrainian drone attack on a car he was travelling in, said control of Niu-York would allow Russian forces to get closer to cutting off a key road – the Pokrovsk-Kostiantynivka highway – that keeps the Ukrainian army in the east supplied.
Alexander Kots, a war correspondent for the Komsomolskaya Pravda daily, said Russian forces would now also be able to attack the eastern city of Toretsk – which is already under Russian pressure on its eastern flank – from the south.
Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskiy said the situation near Pokrovsk and Toretsk was “difficult”.
Ukraine’s general staff said on Facebook that 14 combat clashes had been reported in the Toretsk area and 34 in the Pokrovsk sector since the start of the day.
There was no immediate confirmation by Ukraine that Niu-York was in Russian hands. Ukraine’s general staff acknowledged Russian troops were attacking near Niu-York but said Ukrainian forces were giving them “a worthy rebuff”.
Ukrainian officials said Russia had also hit energy infrastructure in northern Ukraine in an overnight missile and drone attack and caused a huge fire in the west of the country, resulting in increased chlorine levels in the air.
Separately, Russia said it had summoned a senior US diplomat in Moscow to protest over what it called the “provocative” actions of US journalists who had crossed into the Kursk region from Ukraine to report on the incursion.
The Russian foreign ministry said it had also protested over what it said was emerging evidence of the participation of US private military companies in the invasion of Russian territory by Ukraine. It did not say what evidence it was referring to. – Reuters