Ukraine orders families to leave key city of Pokrovsk amid Russian advances
Al Jazeera
Order to evacuate comes as Russia advances in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, saying it captured the town of Zalizne.
Ukrainian authorities have issued an urgent order to families with children to evacuate the eastern city of Pokrovsk, where the Russian army is bearing down fast despite a lightning Ukrainian incursion into Russia’s Kursk region.
Local authorities said Russian forces are advancing so quickly that families must leave the city and other nearby towns and villages starting Tuesday. Around 53,000 people still live in Pokrovsk, officials say, while some have already fled their homes as Russia’s army advances.
Donetsk governor Vadym Filashkin called Monday’s decision to evacuate “necessary and inevitable”.
Pokrovsk is one of Ukraine’s main defensive strongholds and a key logistics hub in the Donetsk region. Its capture by Russia, which invaded Ukraine in February 2022, would compromise Ukraine’s defensive abilities and supply routes and would bring Russia closer to its stated aim of capturing the entire Donetsk region.
One of Kyiv’s attempts to ease the pressure on its eastern front was the unexpected August 6 incursion into Russia’s Kursk region, which among other goals aimed to unnerve the Kremlin and compel it to split its military resources.
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