Ukraine has denied Russian claims that they have captured a key town in the eastern Donetsk region, but admitted that the situation looks desperate.
Russia claimed control of the eastern town of Kurakhove on Monday, after months of heavy fighting. The town has been decimated by continuous Russian shelling.
A Ukrainian military spokesperson, however, said on Monday that fighting is ongoing in the western outskirts of the town.
“Currently, the situation in Kurakhove is indeed quite difficult, because a significant part of the city has been destroyed,” spokesperson Viktor Tregubov said.
“[But] Ukrainian troops are holding on in the western part of the town, on the western outskirts of the town.”
He added that fighting was taking place around the town’s thermal plant.
Russia’s defence ministry often prematurely claims control of towns and cities in Ukraine, but footage over the past few days has shown soldiers raising their white, red and blue flag in Kurakhove. Ukrainian war tracker DeepState, known to have close ties to the military, records the town as almost completely occupied.
Ukrainian commentators have also been candid about the fate of the area. “The town of Kurakhove is effectively lost,” wrote Ukrainian journalist Yuriy Butusov, before acknowledging that some fighting was still taking place in the town’s industrial areas in the west.
He later criticised what he says is Ukrainian command’s insistence on defending what is left of the town “despite the fact that the ratio of losses to the enemy is unfavourable to us”.
He drew comparisons to the losses of Soledar, Bakhmut, Avdiivka and Vuhledar, which are towns and cities also in the Donetsk region that all fell to the Russians after months of heavy fighting. Vladimir Putin’s forces, employing a tactic used throughout their full-scale invasion of Ukraine, all but completely destroyed the areas before eventually capturing them.
Mr Tregubov said the Russians were doing the same with Kurakhove. “They are trying to destroy all houses, even low-rise buildings,” he said, adding that this was making it harder for Ukraine’s forces to defend the area.
The main thrust of Russia’s attack in the Donetsk region has been towards the city of Pokrovsk around 15 miles to the north, which sits on logistical lines feeding the wider area, but Kurakhove has been a clear goal of Mr Putin’s forces for months. After months of slow and costly advances, Russian forces are also within a few miles of Pokrovsk.
Meanwhile, in the Russian border region of Kursk, Ukraine’s forces continued to advance following a surprise counterattack.
Ukraine’s general staff acknowledged the attack, which began over the weekend, for the first time on Tuesday, before adding that they were “currently commencing new offensive operations,” in the area.
Russia has shrunk Ukraine’s partial hold of the Kursk region by about half since Kyiv’s forces launched the cross-border attack last August, but Ukrainian troops have fortified their positions in the centre of the area they control.
The majority of recent fighting has been concentrated to the east Sudzha, the only city in Kursk controlled by Kyiv, with Ukrainian forces advancing to the north and Russia countering in the south.
Holding onto this sliver of Russian territory could prove vital in possible peace negotiations between Moscow and Ukraine.
