Ukrainian forces fighting around Velyka Novosilka claim its Russian takeover will amount to nothing more than a flag-raising exercise
Independent cousin
Does it mean your favorite articles and stories to read or reference later?Start your premium standalone subscription today.
Russia has claimed to have captured another key Ukrainian town as it looks to consolidate gains ahead of potential peace talks pushed by Donald Trump.
After months of heavy fighting, Russian forces claimed control of the town of Velyka Novosilka in the eastern Ukrainian region of Donetsk on Monday. The town is small, with a prewar population of only 5,000, but it has served as a key assembly area for offensive and defensive Ukrainian operations in the wider area, says Frontelligence Insight, a Ukrainian war tracker. It is also a key route linking towns further east to the rest of unoccupied Ukraine.
It is the second significant town in Donetsk to fall to the Russians this month after Moscow claimed control of Kurakhove roughly 20 miles to the northeast.
The city of Toretsk, further north, has also been almost completely occupied. Its fall appears inevitable, according to Ukrainian security think tank the Centre for Defence Strategies (CDS).
Near the ultimate northern end of Russia’s attack on Ukraine, Moscow’s troops have also made progress in the city of Dvorichina in the Kharkiv region. It is just north of the city of Kupyansk.
“The scenario on the first line remains complicated,” Ukraine general personnel wrote in his last update. “The opponent, his merit in the life force, attacks our positions. “