Ukrainian officials urge civilians to evacuate eastern city of Pokrovsk as Russian troops close in

Military authorities in the eastern Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk on Friday urged civilians to speed up their evacuation because the Russian army is quickly closing in on what has been one of Moscow's key targets for months.

Military authorities in the eastern Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk on Friday urged civilians to speed up their evacuation because the Russian army is quickly closing in on what has been one of Moscow's key targets for months.

Pokrovsk officials said in a Telegram post that Russian troops are "advancing at a fast pace. With every passing day there is less and less time to collect personal belongings and leave for safer regions."

Ukrainian troops have been trying to divert the Kremlin's military focus away from the front line in Ukraine by launching a bold cross-border incursion into Russia's Kursk region. But Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned Thursday that Pokrovsk and other nearby towns in the Donetsk region were "facing the most intense Russian assaults."

Goose, an aerial reconnaissance soldier with Ukraine's 68th Separate Airborne Brigade who is helping defend the city, told The Associated Press by phone on Friday that he faces the same deadly monotony every day: From his position, he flies a drone to identify moving Russian infantrymen. The boom of a mortar follows after he relays the coordinates. Then, more and more infantrymen come in a seemingly endless wave.

"Since the Kursk operation, I haven't noticed any changes. The Russians have the same tactics of infantry assaults: They are moving, advancing," said Goose, who spoke only using his call sign, in keeping with Ukrainian military rules. He noted that with their powerful aerial bombs, Russia was destroying any hope Ukrainians have of holding the territory. "Russians are destroying and moving, destroying and moving," he said.

The urgency of the evacuation of civilians from Pokrovsk has underscored the high-stakes gamble Ukraine is making by taking the war into Russia with its ongoing Kursk assault, which started Aug. 6.

The attack is a daring attempt to change the dynamics of the 2 1/2-year conflict, but it could backfire and leave Ukraine's shorthanded defence on the front line at the mercy of Russia's push. The Kremlin's forces have had battlefield momentum and superior forces in eastern Ukraine's Donetsk region since the spring.