Russia has claimed to have captured the front-line town of Kurakhove in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk region, a significant development in the ongoing conflict. The town has been a focal point of Russian advances in recent months and is a critical pathway to the key logistical hub of Pokrovsk.
Russia says it’s in control, but Ukraine doesn’t confirm Kurakhove has fallen, some 35 kilometers south of Pokrovsk. Heavy fighting continues to rage in the area, including in Russia’s Kursk region, according to reports. Ukraine launched a counter-attack over the weekend.
Video evidence circulated by the BBC confirms that Russian troops are present along the outskirts of Kurakhove, further testimony to the fact that they are indeed present there. In his Telegram channel, notable Ukrainian journalist Yury Butusov stated that the city of Kurakhove “practically was lost” to Russian forces. According to Ukraine, servicemen were experiencing non-stop bombardment coming in the form of multiple rocket launchers and precision-guided bombs.
According to DeepState, a Ukrainian monitoring group that tracks frontline developments, most of Kurakhove was under Russian control as of midday Tuesday. However, Ukraine’s military has not officially acknowledged this situation. Viktor Trehubov, spokesperson for Ukraine’s Khortytsia group of forces, stated that as of Monday morning, Ukrainian forces were still actively engaged with Russian troops within the town.
The strategic value of Kurakhove is because of its direct connectivity to Pokrovsk by the roads; such roads make movement of troops and supplies from a front line easily feasible. Experts suggest that Russian forces would, once they secured the Kurakhove settlement, advance for an assault upon Pokrovsk from the novel angle.
Meanwhile, Russia’s defence ministry also stated it captured the village of Dachenske, 8km south of Pokrovsk. However, according to latest reports, it seems that as the conflict advances, Kyiv’s forces have been struggling to deal with shortages in manpower, losing ground in eastern Ukraine to the continued advances by Russian troops.
