The Russian army closed in on the eastern Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk on Friday, a key logistics hub through which supplies are transported to troops and towns on the eastern front, while Kyiv urged civilians living there to speed up evacuations. In the meantime, Ukraine said its forces have continued advancing in Russia's Kursk region where it launched an incursion 11 days ago. Read our blog to see how the day's events unfolded.
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Summary:
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Ukrainian officials in the eastern city of Pokrovsk urged civilians to evacuate as fast as possible due to Russian troops “advancing at a fast pace”. The city lies on the intersection of a key road that supplies Ukrainian troops and towns across the eastern front. It has long been a target for the Russian army.
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The Russian defence ministry said its forces captured Sergiivka, a frontline village some 15 kilometres away from the Ukrainian-held logistics hub of Pokrovsk.
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Kremlin aide Nikolai Patrushev claimed on Friday that the US-led NATO military alliance and "Western special services" were directly involved in the planning of Ukraine's attack on Russia's Kursk region. The US has maintained it had not received advance notice of the attack.
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Russia said it had repelled a night-time attack using 12 US-made missiles on the landmark Crimean Bridge built on the orders of President Vladimir Putin after Moscow annexed the peninsula.
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Ukraine's army chief said Thursday his forces had seized 82 settlements and 1,150 square kilometres of Russian land since the start of its cross-border offensive in the Kursk region, setting up a military field office in the occupied territory.
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Russia said it had recaptured a first village from Ukrainian forces in Kursk region.
Yesterday's key developments:
- Ukrainian army chief Oleksandr Syrsky says Kyiv has set up a military field office in the occupied areas of Russia's Kursk region, where his forces have seized 82 settlements and 1,150 square kilometres since the start of the Ukrainian incursion on August 6.
- Moscow's defence minister said the Russian army would send reinforcements to the Belgorod border region, where authorities earlier declared a state of emergency.
- Russia says it has evacuated 200,000 people so far from border regions.
- The UN rights office has asked Moscow to allow a visit to border areas affected by Ukraine's cross-border attack.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP and Reuters)
