Russia's Defense Ministry said Tuesday that it captured the town of Krasnohorivka in eastern Ukraine as well as three villages in different parts of the Donetsk region The Russian military said its troops "liberated" the town and the villages of Hryhorivkа is in an area where the front line has remained relatively unchanged for weeks The town lies some 20 kilometers (32 miles) west of Russian-held Donetsk and had served as a key stronghold for Kyiv It became more vulnerable after the fall of nearby Marinka in December 2023 and Avdiivka in February Russian troops have been advancing steadily in the Donetsk region in recent weeks and are closing in on the town of Pokrovsk a vital logistics and transport hub for Ukrainian forces Russian President Vladimir Putin said last week that seizing the Donbas Ukraine's industrial heartland which includes the Donetsk region Amid Moscow's creeping advance in the east Ukraine last month launched an offensive into Russia's Kursk region saying it had seized hundreds of square kilometers Kyiv said one of its objectives with the incursion is to force Russia to redirect its troops from eastern Ukraine Russia's Prosecutor General's Office has designated The Moscow Times as an "undesirable" organization criminalizing our work and putting our staff at risk of prosecution This follows our earlier unjust labeling as a "foreign agent." These actions are direct attempts to silence independent journalism in Russia The authorities claim our work "discredits the decisions of the Russian leadership." We see things differently: we strive to provide accurate We, the journalists of The Moscow Times, refuse to be silenced. But to continue our work, we need your help please support us monthly starting from just $2 and every contribution makes a significant impact independent journalism in the face of repression Accompanying a police rescue team on civilian evacuation missions to Krasnohorivka the delicate situation on the front line becomes clear the town presents a formidable challenge when it comes to saving life The police team known as the White Angels delivers basic supplies to civilians caught up in fighting in the front line towns of the Donetsk region They most famously evacuate civilians – dead and alive – from the spots where other rescue teams do not dare go The group formed by the Mariinka police department is now known as the White Angels policemen always try to bring some toys or sweets for the children trapped in the war zone they started to call the team the “White Angels” More than two years after the beginning of the Russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine the team has been continuing humanitarian response work on top of their normal police duties They continue to work thanks to the help of charities and volunteer groups who have been providing funds to repair the evacuation vehicles buying first-aid supplies and sometimes also delivering fuel In spring this year the White Angels were based in Kurakhove a town some fifteen kilometres away from the front lines in Donetsk oblast police criminologist Vasyl Pipa and his colleagues in the White Angels team have already made one trip to Krasnohorivka which is already partially occupied by the Russians We get in a van painted in dark green and talk about the White Angels’ work on our way to the town The van winds about the fields to avoid the asphalted road the van has the additional protection of reinforced metal inside it The vehicle is also equipped with a radio jamming device to protect the team against possible drone attacks The team’s trips to the area close to the combat line are always coordinated with the army so that they are not mistaken for the enemy there are between three and five hundred people still living in Krasnohorivka which used to have a population of over 16,000 “We estimate the number of people based on information from the locals who act as humanitarian aid distribution coordinators in their streets People can withhold information from the authorities but the aid distribution is a pretty accurate method,” explains Vasyl Most people who request evacuation do so reluctantly They do not want to leave their homes but just get too exhausted with life under regular shelling the team managed to evacuate a family with four children “The adults have been hiding the children from us for some time but luckily we managed to convince them to leave the place,” he adds On a small street on the outskirts of Krasnohorivka we meet Artem Shchus the chief of Kurakhove police who is waiting there with a smaller car This afternoon the team is going to pick up people in several Krasnohorivka locations Shchus has already taken three of them from their homes inside the town who is trying to calm down her cat called Samy who is poking her head out of a cardboard box Shchus and Pipa leave to collect another group of people inside Krasnohorivka The rest will be waiting for them at the spot It takes the evacuation team between thirty minutes and one hour to go to an address in Krasnohorivka and come back with another group of evacuees The people leaving the town are prepared to never come back and try to take as many of their possessions with them as possible two women walk out from behind the gates of one of the houses says she came from the centre of Krasnohorivka some days ago to stay with her mother here It has became too dangerous to stay in the town she had to come back to collect some documents at her apartment A pastor from the local Evangelical church Nove Zhyttia (New Life) had accompanied her as they cycled there It becomes apparent later that Nove Zhyttia members are a very well integrated group in the town It is not exactly safe in the Krasnohorivka outskirts Olga says that shelling hit the street we are talking on just some hours earlier “Do we have a chance for electricity today Valera is on his way to to see if he is able to repair the local electricity supply line damaged by the shelling The locals have no other choice than to do repairs themselves The local electricity company staff do not come to Krasnohorivka anymore There are no other indications of normal life Olga says that there used to be a small shop working in the neighborhood until two weeks ago but the owner has left and the store is closed “She promised us she would come in a van and bring some bread and groceries for sale in a few days,” Olga says In the meantime the locals depend on their homegrown food the stock in their pantries and the occasional humanitarian aid delivery the Krasnohorivka outskirts are a “cosier” place compared to the town centre we are watching a column of intense smoke rise over the town The next group of Krasnohorivka evacuees arriving some minutes later tells us that the Russians dropped a gliding bomb over thereabout an hour ago They are trying to guess what building exactly has caught fire this time the policemen decide that the next address in Krasnohorivka they are about to go to is safe enough to take a journalist with them When we arrive to the next evacuation address in the town the phones that went silent once we left Kurakhove start beeping there is a mobile network signal in Krasnohorivka But the houses around are damaged by shelling The signs of shrapnel on the walls and fences are “mixed” with stickers from different charities which have been sending humanitarian aid to the town The flowerbeds outside the houses are in full bloom As Shchus and Pipa are looking for the women who requested evacuation the locals are gathering around the car to exchange some words with the visitors from outside They are still not ready to leave themselves despite the encouragement by the policemen As the women get into the car they say goodbye and everyone on the street has tears in the eyes They do not know if they are going to see each other again On our way to the evacuees gathering point it turns out that Shchus and one of the evacuated women had known each other since they were youngsters and are now chatting about the past and present The following days it becomes apparent that the White Angels know a significant part of the residents in their area of operations And some got to know each other during humanitarian aid deliveries over the last two years the group is ready to leave Krasnohorivka for Kurakhove There are nine people inside the bigger van their luggage and a box with the now quiet cat Samy inside Pipa says the team record for the van so far is 24 people and their luggage taken out on one trip “Sometimes we have to evacuate the living and the civilians who were killed by shelling or died of other reasons at the same time,” he said “There may be no other chance to come back and evacuate the body of a civilian again We might be not able to get to the place again or the body can be damaged by another shelling And if the body is not evacuated we as the police will have to deal with the missing person case and the families will have all sorts of administrative complications not speaking about the chance to bury their loved ones.” the van makes a stop at one of the towns further away from the front lines A group of cars is waiting here in the dark Some of the Kurakhove evacuees are collected by their family members who live in Donetsk Oblast further away from the front lines are being picked up by volunteers to be taken to Lviv And while the luggage is unloaded from the van the two policemen get news of a car full of Krasnohorivka civilians who were trying to take a woman injured by shelling to the hospital The policemen have to go back in a smaller car to pick up the injured woman and help with the broken car They come back about an hour later and the van finally continues to Kurakhove One of the evacuees is dropped off in the village where his mother in law lives His wife had left for the village ahead of him She will spend the night in a Kurakhove shelter and will then go to Kyiv by train the next day Her daughter and family had moved there after the first Russian invasion in Donbas in 2014 when the line dividing the territory under Ukrainian government control and the breakaway territories came very close to Krasnohorivka which has not been controlled by Ukraine since 2014 So maybe she would go to a shelter in Zaporizhzhia but she is not sure Her family are calling her from Donetsk and Crimea “I would go anywhere quiet now,” the woman says “but I heard they are bombing Zaporizhzhia as well and I am not sure if I should go there.” The next day the team returns to Krasnohorivka to pick up more people and more animals This time Vasyl Pipa is accompanied by Andriy Drumov a chief of the Volnovakha police now based in Kurakhove is waiting for the evacuation team in Krasnohorivka He has finally decided to leave for Dnipropetrovsk Oblast where the members of the Nove Zhyttia church have offered him a place to stay Vitaliy needs to see the animals left in his care by people who left Krasnohorivka earlier be evacuated as well A dog called Roma is barking outside the house as Vitaliy is trying to catch a ginger cat named Bonia a sound of a drone becomes clear in the proximity of the evacuation van It is impossible to say if the drone is Ukrainian or Russian The address is on the same street where two women were picked up as the last evacuees the previous day The man who saw his daughter leaving a few hours before is now saying goodbye to his neighbours They are leaving food supplies and two dogs to take care of The man himself says he is not going anywhere He says he is too old to leave and has nowhere to go where they would take him with his dog An elderly woman approaches the two policemen asking them if they could take her out of the area in a few days She has not packed yet and still needs a bit more time The policemen leave contact phone numbers and encourage the woman to give them a call as soon as possible Next stop is a house whose owners had already left While Vitaliy’s dogs are loaded in the van a woman looks out of the neighbouring house and asks the police to take a German Sheppard dog sitting outside her gate It just came today and stays at her gate because she fed it The woman says she is going to leave Krasnohorivka in a few days herself She is waiting for some family members to come with a car to take her out The van finally leaves for Kurakhove followed by the locals in their car who feel it is safer to go out of the town in a convoy rather than on their own Some minutes after the van leaves the street there is a sound of an explosion nearby Drumov believes that a drone humming close to Vitaliy’s house was a Russian one and that the explosion is an artillery attack on the spot where the evacuation van had been located last Vasyl Pipa has to leave the evacuation van midway An injured civilian had just been reported in Krasnohorivka Apparently the man was hit by a piece of shrapnel the previous day and just had been found by one of the neighbours While Drumov is taking the evacuees to Kurakhove Pipa is picked up by Artem Shchus and they go to Krasnohorivka only to come back to Kurakhove with a dead body in their car the team is evacuating the bodies of civilians killed by Russian shelling from the village of Yelyzavetivka A man and a woman had been killed by shrapnel from a single shell less than an hour before the police arrive Immediately after the evacuation van arrives at the address a White Angels team member driving that day believes the Russians are targeting the van “For them we look the same as the military and they are trying to hit us every time they can,” he explained later The two policemen quickly put it into a bodybag At this moment a crying woman looks out from a house with a missing front wall and takes the policemen inside On a floor in one of the rooms there is a body of a man The two women begin weeping but refuse to leave the village that day “We were born here and we will die here.” Another shell falls close to the house and the policemen hurry up to leave as the women stay behind In a small apartment block nearby locals are sheltering from the shells in a cellar Here the policemen are waiting for one of the locals the locals tell the policemen that there is probably an injured woman somewhere in the village The policemen decide not to go looking for her under the shelling and inform the army medics stationed in the village about the reports The medics say they will keep an eye out for the injured civilian who just came back from a mission delivering drinking water to another village under shelling in the area “There are places in Krasnohorivka still not controlled by the Russians that we do not go to anymore,” Pipa says The risk of being captured or killed by the Russians is too high there He was hit by a piece of shrapnel a few hundred metres away from the Russian-controlled area we needed the assistance of one local who we know has pro-Russian views We called him and asked to carry the injured man to the spot where we could pick him up A policeman with twenty years of experience Pipa tells me that the team will continue the missions in Krasnohorivka and the area for as long as they can we are not supposed to be going there anymore Kateryna Pryshchepa is a Ukrainian journalist and a contributing editor with New Eastern Europe Please support New Eastern Europe's crowdfunding campaign The consequences of Russia’s invasion are visible not only in Ukraine The Kremlin has set off or exploited a series of crises that face most European countries New thinking is needed in policies towards Russia in whatever form it will take after the war Ukraine’s suffering goes well beyond the front line With Russia’s invasion of Ukraine we now see our western values under siege whether we consciously recognise it or not The invasion by Russian forces of Ukraine from the north south and east – with the initial aim to take the capital Kyiv – has changed our region The situation with Russian threats towards Ukraine once again illustrates the high level of instability in our region Only a year ago we witnessed the second Nagorno-Karabakh war between Armenia and Azerbaijan It took at least 5,000 lives and significantly shifted the geopolitics in the South Caucuses This special issue aims to honour the plight of Belarusians whose democratic choice made in August 2020 was shamelessly snubbed by Alyaksandr Lukashenka a lot of work still remains for this country And this is why Ukraine’s story is incomplete 30 years after the fall of the Soviet Union Our societies are more polarised than ever before which makes them more susceptible to disinformation The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed limitations and weaknesses in nearly all countries around the world volatility and the relationship between Russia and the West The Black Sea region is quickly becoming a geopolitical battleground which is gaining the interest of major powers regional players and smaller countries – and the stakes are only getting higher This issue is dedicated to the 10 year anniversary of the European Union’s Eastern Partnership as well as the 30 years since the 1989 revolutions in Central Europe The consequences of the emerging multipolar world This issue takes a special look at the role and responsibility of the public intellectual in Central and Eastern Europe today In the eastern parts of the European continent 1918 is remembered not only as the end of the First World War but also saw the emergence of newly-independent states and the rise of geopolitical struggles which are felt until this day that Belarus remains isolated from the West and very static in its transformation The Summer 2018 issue of New Eastern Europe tackles the complexity of para-states in the post-Soviet space Russia claimed on Monday that it took control of a village in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region as fierce clashes between Moscow and Kyiv continue along the front line A statement by the Russian Defense Ministry claimed that its forces captured the village of Lysychne located about 20 kilometers (12.4 miles) east of the city of Pokrovsk a key front in the Russia-Ukraine conflict that has been raging for more than two years The statement further claimed that Russian troops continue to hold the initiative in the region by "successfully breaking through" Ukraine's defenses It also claimed that Russian forces established control over city blocks in the city of Krasnohorivka located about 22 kilometers (13,6 miles) west of the city of Donetsk The statement went on to say that its forces are also pushing back Ukrainian troops in six settlements in the region Ukrainian authorities have not yet commented on Russia's claims and independent verification of the claims is difficult due to the ongoing war the Russian forces have made advances in several sections of the battlefront They have taken the centre of Krasnohorivka and again pushed the defenders out of its southwestern suburbs which the Ukrainian forces had recaptured in a counter-attack a week earlier The Russian forces are continuing their advance towards Pokrovsk where they have captured the town of Prohres where they have seized parts of Pivnichne and Zalizny and expanded their base of operations in the southern area of Niu-York The Russian forces have also seized the eastern part of Maximilianivka the last village that separated them from Kurakhovo They have broken through the Ukrainian defences in the Seversk area a village located 6km south-east of this town They have also breached the Ukrainian defence line south-east of Kupiansk and taken the village of Pishchane they have made minor advances in the Chasiv Yar area as they are attempting to capture a bridgehead on the western side of the Donets-Donbas canal By opening a new section of the battlefront in the Kharkiv area last May the Russian army effectively dispersed the Ukrainian effort and made it easier for its own units to conduct offensive operations in other directions Another contributing factor was the decision of the Ukrainian command which was most likely inspired by the country’s top leadership to move into offensive operations north of Kharkiv after the Russian advances in this area had been halted with the aim of pushing the invading forces back across the border into Russia Ukrainian counter-attacks have so far failed to produce any significant results but have forced the army to commit more forces which has weakened the Ukrainian defences in those sections The fact that Russia has also been bringing more reinforcements which are often new units that have not been fully formed and trained has complicated the situation for the Ukrainian forces A possible Ukrainian drawdown in the Kharkiv area to salvage the situation elsewhere could therefore create a direct threat to this city as well Ukraine has almost entirely used up its reserves Until it forms new units through its ramped-up mobilisation drive following legislative changes (assuming that Ukraine’s Western partners will move swiftly to equip these units) which will not take place until autumn at the earliest the Ukrainian forces are unlikely to be able to regain their operational freedom Ukrainian border service spokesman Andriy Demchenko denied reports that Russian forces had breached the defence line in the Sumy region He reported the activity of Russian sabotage and reconnaissance groups whose tasks include determining the location of Ukrainian units and carrying out operations to weaken the effectiveness of Ukrainian defences The port infrastructure and military installations in the Odesa region remain a constant target for Russian missile attacks: new strikes were reported on 16 Russia has also launched more missile and drone strikes targeting the immediate support base of the Ukrainian forces mainly in the Kharkiv and Mykolaiv regions It has increased the use of its Iskander-M ballistic missiles for attacks in the frontline regions: for example it has struck infrastructure and railway depots in the Kharkiv region on 20 and 22 July We can expect Russia to increasingly launch its Iskanders from Crimea Russian rockets and/or drones have struck energy facilities in the Sumy (20 Chernihiv (20 July) and Poltava (20 July in the Poltava and Myrhorod regions) oblasts the Russian forces reportedly used at least 42 missiles including at least 12 Iskander-Ms; Ukraine claimed to have shot down three of these Ukrainian sources have reported that Russia used a new type of low-flying (20-30m) kamikaze drone which was shot down on 20 July in the Kyiv area Further Ukrainian drone attacks have caused minor damage to the infrastructure in Krasnodar Krai but contrary to suggestions by Ukrainian military intelligence this attack did not affect the facility’s operations a ship was damaged in the port of Kavkaz; the Russian side reported casualties among the crew and the port’s staff Attacks that mainly targeted airfields in the Rostov region (Millerovo on 20 July and Morozovsk on 22 July) were unsuccessful Morozovsk was reportedly attacked by at least 47 drones out of a total of 76 used that day Ukrainian attempts to strike the Kursk region (19 July) and Crimea (18 According to the Security Service of Ukraine the attack on 18 July was intended to disrupt the organisation of exercises on Lake Donuzlav and destroy the installations of a coast guard unit’s base but satellite imagery showed only traces of fire at the site of a neighbouring wind power plant during the European Political Community summit in the UK President Volodymyr Zelensky announced that the Polish government had taken a positive decision “on a specific issue” that will enable Ukraine to receive F-16 fighter jets more quickly President Zelensky announced that a German Patriot air defence system had arrived in Ukraine He did not specify whether this was a full battery the handover of which Germany had confirmed at the NATO summit in Washington during Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal’s visit to Prague Ukrainian Defence Industry (the successor to Ukroboronprom) and the Czech company Colt CZ Group signed two agreements worth a total of $6.5 million to launch the production of NATO-standard weapons and small arms ammunition in Ukraine Česká zbrojovka will transfer technology and know-how and supply the equipment and components over the next three years to enable the assembly of CZ BREN 2 automatic carbines using the 5.56x45mm cartridge in Ukraine Its direct contractor in Ukraine was not disclosed for security reasons Ukroboronservice and the Czech company Sellier & Bellot agreed to cooperate in the production of various types of small-calibre ammunition including NATO’s basic 5.56x45mm ammunition Both agreements represent another step in the implementation of the agreements that were reached in September 2023 in Kyiv during the DFNC1 (the International Defence Industries Forum) Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala further announced that 1,700 Ukrainian servicemen will receive training in the Czech Republic in 2024 the Czech Republic has reportedly trained 6,000 Ukrainian soldiers France Info reported on 18 July that the French government is preparing a new military support package its largest ever in terms of the number of combat vehicles 24 ‘light tanks’ (probably more AMX-10RC armoured reconnaissance vehicles with 105mm cannon) 128 VAB light (two-axle) wheeled armoured personnel carriers in September France is set to start training 2,100 Ukrainian troops of the previously announced ‘French Brigade’ This process is scheduled to be completed in December France Info’s sources in the French defence ministry did not specify when the upcoming arms package would arrive in Ukraine It will likely be used to equip the ‘French brigade’ On 18 July, Ukraine signed an agreement with Slovenia on security cooperation and long-term assistance which has already provided Ukraine with 13 packages of military aid will maintain its current level of support over the next 10 years contribute to the training of the Ukrainian military within the framework of the EU’s EUMAM mission and work to find sources of funding for Ukrainian defence projects Slovenia also pledged €5 million in humanitarian aid On the same day, Ukraine concluded a similar agreement with the Czech Republic A significant part of this document refers to cooperation in the military-technical sphere primarily in the supply of small and large calibre ammunition (122 and 155 mm) the capabilities to manufacture small arms light weapons and unmanned aerial vehicles the agreement provides for strengthening the ammunition production capacity in both countries The document emphasises that the Czech Republic’s partnership with the Dnipropetrovsk region for its reconstruction and sustainable development is a special form of cooperation between the two countries in the non-military sphere the defence ministers of the UK and Ukraine signed an agreement on credit support for the development of Ukrainian defence capabilities It stipulates that UK suppliers will be able to obtain loans of up to £2 billion from the government in London to fund contracts with Ukraine This amount is not final and may be increased in the future the Armed Forces of Ukraine are expected to receive air defence systems and radar equipment by 2026 and to acquire the technology needed to manufacture artillery barrels and armoured vehicles From 18 May to 17 July, more than 4.6 million Ukrainians updated their data in military commissions, including about three million through the ‘Reserve +’ application. On 18 July, Ukraine’s Deputy Minister of Economy, Vitaly Kindrativ, reported that businesses which have been declared as vital for the functioning of the economy have exempted some 800,000 persons subject to mobilisation from military service; this number could rise to 1.2 million. On 18 July, President Zelensky approved Ukraine’s new maritime security strategy It envisages the creation of the international Safe Black Sea platform with the participation of countries in the Black Sea region (excluding Russia) the Global South and other countries facing economic and food challenges as a result of Russia’s obstruction of freedom of navigation in the Black Sea It also calls for deeper involvement of the UK and Norway-led Maritime Security Capability Coalition Its aim is to develop Ukraine’s maritime capabilities and establish an ‘anti-mine coalition’ with the participation of NATO countries to carry out mine clearance of Ukrainian territorial waters and rivers after the war On 17 July, a 95-for-95 exchange of prisoners of war took place with the mediation of the United Arab Emirates All those released were men: 88 privates and sergeants as well as seven officers; they included 13 Mariupol defenders This was the 54th exchange of prisoners of war since 2022; a total of 3,405 people have now returned from Russian captivity In a poll by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) that was published on 23 July 55% of Ukrainian people expressed their opposition to any territorial concessions to Russia while 32% accepted such an option as a way of achieving peace and preserving the country’s sovereignty Among those who expressed an opinion on this issue 13% of respondents answered ‘difficult to say’ The survey shows that the percentage of those who accept territorial concessions has been increasing: it stood at 19% in late 2023 and at 26% in February this year Biuletyn Informacji Publicznej this article takes stock of the recent developments on the battlefield based on open-source information Meduza has condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine from the very start and our detailed military analyses are part of our commitment to objective reporting on a war we firmly oppose Russian troops are continuing their offensive in Ukraine’s Donbas region The Ukrainian Armed Forces (AFU) are losing ground north of Bakhmut in the Toretsk area between Horlivka and Bakhmut While not all these losses are equally critical the failure to halt the Russian advance along a broad front — from Krasnohorivka in the south to Toretsk in the north — could prove costly for the Ukrainian army by late summer and early fall Meduza has condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine from the very start, and we are committed to reporting objectively on a war we firmly oppose. Join Meduza in its mission to challenge the Kremlin’s censorship with the truth. Donate today Russian troops continue to achieve localized successes north of Soledar They’ve captured the village of Rozdolivka and are pushing along the Bakhmut–Siversk railway which captured the village of Spirne northeast of Rozdolivka after months of fighting has unexpectedly pushed several kilometers into Ukrainian defenses and seized the village of Ivano-Daryivka This advance toward Siversk from the south and east appears to be part of a larger plan by the Russian command to capture Siversk and eventually reach Sloviansk and Kramatorsk Russian troops have taken control of the Kanal microdistrict in Chasiv Yar which is separated from the city center by the Siverskyi Donets–Donbas Canal but it remains unclear how successful these efforts have been and whether the Russian command plans to launch a direct assault on Chasiv Yar Russian forces are also advancing on the flanks they’ve secured strategically important high ground enabling them to advance toward the Siverskyi Donets–Donbas Canal the Russian army is attempting to take the Kalynivka microdistrict to facilitate a future crossing of the canal north of Chasiv Yar The Russian army is continuing its attacks on all settlements south and west of Toretsk moving toward the Russian group advancing on Chasiv Yar The Ukrainian command has sent reinforcements from other parts of the front The battles here have become a series of counterattacks with Ukrainian forces trying to push back in the settlements of Pivnichne Russian troops continue to advance northward which is likely to become the main fortified area for Ukrainian forces in this settlement The Russian Aerospace Forces have already begun heavy bombardments of the plant using precision-guided bombs Fierce battles are also ongoing on the southern outskirts of Pivnichne Both sides are using tanks and other armored vehicles and are sustaining losses The Russian army has captured the last villages (most of Novoselivka Persha and Yasnobrodivka) that stood between it and the major natural obstacle of the Vovcha River Once Ukrainian forces retreat behind the river it is likely that the Russian army will try to break through north of the river’s bend through the villages of Prohres and Vozdvyzhenka toward the Pokrovsk–Kostiantynivka road which serves as the main supply line for the AFU groupings in Chasiv Yar and Toretsk (Some were established after Russia captured Avdiivka in February; it’s likely that Ukrainian forces continued to fight between Avdiivka and the Vovcha under harsh conditions to buy time to reinforce the new defensive line.) However holding these new positions will be challenging given the Russian army’s air superiority A recently published video suggests that Russian troops have reached the Kurakhove–Vuhledar road which serves as the main supply line for the Ukrainian grouping in Vuhledar This crucial route has enabled them to hold Vuhledar since March 2022 A small Russian unit advanced about four kilometers (2.5 miles) to reach the road but lost their equipment in the process It remains unclear whether they have secured their new positions The loss of this supply line could have serious consequences for the defense of Vuhledar south of the regional center Velyka Novosilka Russian forces are still expending significant resources in an attempt to reclaim territories lost during the AFU’s 2023 summer offensive they took the neighboring village of Urozhaine The battle for the ruins of Urozhaine lasted several weeks with Russian forces losing dozens of pieces of equipment in an offensive that held more symbolic than strategic value Heavy fighting continues in Vovchansk and on the northern outskirts of Kharkiv. The AFU still holds the advantage, thanks to reserves transferred to this sector, including the 414th Marine Unmanned Strike Aviation Systems Regiment, a large unit of drone operators unofficially known as the “Magyar Birds,” which previously defended the bridgehead in Krynky. This regiment is also conducting strikes on rear units of the Russian grouping in this sector, stationed in Russia’s Belgorod region. However, Ukrainian attacks in Vovchansk seem to be waning. Russian forces have managed to improve their positions in the high-rise residential area and on the grounds of the Aggregate Plant in the northern part of the city. The situation for both Russian and Ukrainian infantry remains difficult: they’re engaged in street fighting with significant supply challenges and are under constant attack from drones, piloted aircraft, and artillery. Russian units have also crossed the Kharkiv–Belgorod border in another location, 40 kilometers (25 miles) west of Kharkiv’s outskirts, where fighting has been ongoing since May. Russian troops were spotted in the Ukrainian village of Sotnytskyi Kozachok near the border. It’s unclear whether this is an attempt to open a new front or a diversionary attack to force the Ukrainian command to transfer reserves away from Kharkiv. In the eastern part of the Kharkiv region, as well as in neighboring areas of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, the slow Russian advance continues. Russian troops are now attempting to force their way across the Zherebets River near Makiivka in the Luhansk region. They’ve managed to capture most of the village, which has been a battleground since the fall of 2022.  (Updated:  May 6, 2025 9:37 am)Ukraine's drones target Moscow second night in a row, Russian official claims, ahead of Victory Day parade. Debris from one of the drones reportedly fell on the Kashirskoye Highway The reported attack comes just days before Russia's Victory Day parade and three-day "truce."  (Updated:  May 6, 2025 9:36 am)War analysisFrance is sending Ukraine more AASM Hammer bombs — here's what they can do Polish President Andrzej Duda said the United States has tools that can effectively influence the Kremlin arguing that only President Donald Trump has real leverage over Russian President Vladimir Putin The number includes 1,430 casualties that Russian forces suffered over the past day "To the Success of Our Hopeless Cause: The Many Lives of the Soviet Dissident Movement" by Benjamin Nathans which covers dissent in the Soviet Union and Russia today Reporters Without Borders (RSF) on May 5 announced they had facilitated Russian journalist Ekaterina Barabash's escape from Russia to France after she fled house arrest on April 21 A Russian drone attack on Odesa Oblast on May 5 killed one and caused damage to local infrastructure "We appreciate that Germany plays a pivotal role in supporting Ukraine throughout the years of war Ukraine is also grateful for your personal commitment," President Volodymyr Zelensky said MPs will be able to ask questions and learn more about the details of the agreement in meetings with Economy Minister Yulia Svyrydenko May 6-7 MP Serhii Sobolev told the news outlet Suspilne The ratification vote is scheduled for May 8 Attacks against the border villages of Bilopillia and Vorozhba damaged civilian infrastructure and triggered emergency evacuations the regional military administration reported "I look forward to working with President Erdogan on getting the ridiculous war between Russia and Ukraine ended — now!" U.S Putin's Victory Day truce "doesn't sound like much if you know where we started from," Trump told reporters at the White House on May 5 Far-right Euroskeptic candidate George Simion head of the Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR) Bucharest Mayor Nicusor Dan placed second with 20.99% of the vote and the candidate from the ruling coalition by Kateryna Denisovaon February 2 (Francis Farrell/The Kyiv Independent)Editor's note: This story is being updated Small Russian assault groups broke into the town of Krasnohorivka in Donetsk Oblast but their advance was blocked at a local plant the spokesperson of the Khortytsia group of forces Krasnohorivka lies roughly 30 kilometers west of the occupied city of Donetsk, and Russian forces unsuccessfully attempted to break into the settlement after the fall of Avdiivka in late February Ukrainian soldiers stopped Russian assault groups on the territory of the Krasnohorivka refractory plant The city is "under full control" of Ukraine's defense forces "(The Russian soldiers) are still there. The enemy is cut off from the supply of ammunition. Our defenders have full fire control over both Krasnohorivka and the outskirts of the town," the spokesperson said Fighting near Krasnohorivka is reportedly ongoing Russian forces are also conducting assaults near the villages of Netailove and Pervomaiske in Donetsk Oblast Russia is carrying out intense attacks in multiple sections of the eastern front, which covers much of Donetsk Oblast Russian forces have been focusing their efforts near Chasiv Yar, which they see as crucial for further advances toward Kostiantynivka Kyrylo Budanov, the chief of Ukraine's military intelligence agency (HUR), said that Ukraine should expect to face a renewed Russian offensive in late spring or early summer with the offensive intensifying around the eastern Donbas region Russia aims to completely occupy Donetsk Kateryna Denisova works as a News Editor at the Kyiv Independent She previously worked as a news editor at the NV media outlet for four years covering mainly Ukrainian and international politics Kateryna holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Taras Shevchenko University of Kyiv She also was a fellow at journalism schools in the Czech Republic and Germany Brendan Cole is a Newsweek Senior News Reporter based in London He also covers other areas of geopolitics including China Brendan joined Newsweek in 2018 from the International Business Times and well as English You can get in touch with Brendan by emailing b.cole@newsweek.com or follow on him on his X account @brendanmarkcole either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content Russian troops have made a breakthrough in a key city in the Donetsk region according to Ukraine's armed forces spokesman for Ukraine's Khortytsia operational-strategic group of troops fighting on the front line said Russian assault groups had advanced into Krasnohorivka and entered the site of an industrial plant the enemy was blocked and is still there," Voloshyn told Ukraine's Army TV "Our defenders fully control both Krasnohorivka and the outskirts of the settlement," he added He said that Russia's forces are cut off from ammunition supplies and that its troops were also storming the town of Netaylove 10 miles further north and trying to advance on the eastern part of nearby Pervomaiske although he insisted "our soldiers are repelling them." One Russian milblogger said that Moscow's forces had broken through Ukrainian defenses in the east of Krasnohorivka, completely capturing one street, although the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said Wednesday there was no visual confirmation of this claim Other Russian milbloggers gave accounts on Telegram of the latest situation in the city which come as Russian forces' momentum continues in Donetsk Oblast amid assessments that they are seeking to capture the city of Chasiv Yar which would be a springboard into other settlements in the region but the mop-up operation is still underway the enemy is sitting tight," wrote "Voenkor Kotenyok." the ISW said in its daily update that Moscow's forces had made marginal gains west of Donetsk City but there were no changes to the front line where elements of Russia's 238th Artillery Brigade are operating It comes as a Ukrainian airstrike on Thursday in Russia's Belgorod Oblast left eight people injured and damaged buildings and vehicles Russia continues to fire Shahed-type drones toward Ukraine launching at least 20 of the devices overnight Wednesday from occupied Crimea Ukraine's Air Force said it intercepted 17 of the drones over Odesa Oblast without revealing whether the attack had caused damage Newsweek has contacted the Russian defense ministry for comment Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground Newsletters in your inbox See all Krasnohorivka in new danger as Russia advances in the eastMarch 9 2024 10:26 PM9 min readCivilian riding a bike on Feb by Francis Farrell, Olena ZashkoEditor’s note: Due to fear caused by the tense environment in Krasnohorivka and the possibility of their city being occupied by Russian forces in the future some subjects interviewed declined to give their last names DONETSK OBLAST – On the streets of the small industrial city of Krasnohorivka the term “full-scale invasion” is rarely heard among locals the event that brought Ukraine to the brink of annihilation and heralded a dark new chapter in world history is simply when the guns got a lot louder “I’ve been living like this since 2014,” said 73-year-old Volodymyr Lytvynenko to the Kyiv Independent as he lined up with his brother to receive humanitarian aid a pig farmer by trade who now lives in his basement and survives off his pension and the aid brought mostly by religious organizations starts listing recent shell and rocket hits in his neighborhood one a year and a bit ago; when day-to-day life becomes an exercise in survival for years on end the accurate recollection of time starts to lose its meaning for many half-destroyed petrol station sits quietly beside a large roundabout The column displaying fuel prices still stands proud: all the labels remain frozen at around Hr 16 ($1.43 at 2014 exchange rates) per liter Fighting broke out in Krasnohorivka in spring 2014 when Russian proxy forces set up several checkpoints controlling the roads in and out of key settlements in Donetsk Oblast Ukraine liberated the area in August that year but the front line remained less than two kilometers outside the city Map of Krasnohorivka and surrounds as of March 8th (Lisa Kukharska / The Kyiv Independent)Before the war a satellite city of the regional capital of Donetsk Of the city’s pre-war population of 16,000 many residents had moved from Donetsk to work in the local materials factory Since the launch of Russia’s full-scale invasion while some of the war’s heaviest fighting has been fought nearby Krasnohorivka has been a zone of relative calm front-line positions have barely moved since February 2022 Russian forces have been advancing deeper into Donetsk Oblast following the fall in mid-February of the Ukrainian stronghold of Avdiivka Russian soldiers did at first manage to entrench themselves in some of the city’s outlying buildings before being expelled The roundabout marks a turnoff to the road to the open plain of rubble and ruin that used to be the city of Marinka After 22 months of heavy fighting, Russian forces took the last streets of the city in December last year Normally, this intersection, between 1-1.5 kilometers from forward enemy positions, would be in easy range of Russian mortars, FPV (first-person-view) drones Deprived of mobile connection and other basic utilities residents of Krasnohorivka maintain semblances of ordinary life seemingly oblivious to the sheer proximity to Russian forces mops the floor in a small convenience store Maintaining a cheerful mood as best as she can Iryna acknowledges that the intensity of fighting has increased recently; the gaping shell hole in the mud just outside the shop is all the proof one needs “But I don’t pay attention to these things.” (Francis Farrell/The Kyiv Independent)Krasnohorivka resident on February 2 (Olena Zashko/The Kyiv Independent)The missile stuck in the ground of a civilian neighborhood on February 2 (Francis Farrell/The Kyiv Independent)As is often the case in eastern Ukrainian cities like Krasnohorivka once the heartland of supporters of ousted pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych the political opinions of locals can get messy and confusing very quickly Maybe some are still tempted by the idea of cheap gas,” said 47-year-old Vitalii at the aid distribution point who switched to speaking Ukrainian after the war began in 2014 With the war already at their doorstep in 2014, locals often found themselves isolated from Ukraine’s path following the EuroMaidan Revolution where special police killed over 100 protestors before Yanukovych fled to Russia Contempt for Moscow’s campaign of destruction often goes bizarrely hand-in-hand with old political loyalties He could have taken some fire trucks and soaked that Maidan and everyone (pro-European protestors) there who were against Ukraine.” If locals’ views haven’t changed over 10 years of war there is little hope that they can ever be some people can only be fixed by the grave,” he said “Some people thought that way before the war and some will keep on thinking that way until the end.” Hard of hearing and suffering from poor mobility 72-year-old Serhii Kashelkovskyi’s world is bound by the confines of the tight 59-year-old retired factory worker Larysa Kashelkovska She is responsible for both their survival: gathering food Larysa Kashelkovska and Serhii Kashelkovskyi on February 2 (Francis Farrell/The Kyiv Independent)on February 3 (Francis Farrell/The Kyiv Independent)Larysa Kashelkovska in the rubble of her destroyed apartment on February 2 (Olena Zashko/The Kyiv Independent)The two spend their nights on a damp sofa bed together wrapped in plastic bags to protect them from the dust that falls when a shell hits nearby The picture of their life is a familiar one for civilians all across the front line: heat from wood-burning stoves you can get used to anything,” Kashelkovska said a little further back from Russian positions; occasionally they even get some electricity in the basement and allows him to stay busy and connect with his family far away On an ancient computer dragged down into the cellar he labors away at animated slideshows of his grandchildren Rudimentary love hearts dance around the photos as the words “I Love You My Dears” appear on the screen and sentimental guitar music plays in the background Serhii Kashelkovskyi browses through images and videos of his family on February 2 (Francis Farrell/The Kyiv Independent)Serhii Kashelkovskyi browses through images and videos of his family on February 2 (Francis Farrell/The Kyiv Independent)Despite his health problems like most residents still living in front-line settlements like Krasnohorivka this long into the war government support for internally displaced people remains minimal and those without other support networks often find themselves exploited or languishing in poverty The home Kashelkovskyi refers to has already suffered from two direct hits from Grad rockets to see our grandchildren and daughters,” Kashelkovska said (Olena Zashko/The Kyiv Independent)Serhii Kashelkovskyi on February 2 (Francis Farrell/The Kyiv Independent)The silence is broken by two thundering crashes after what had been a relatively quiet morning thanks to the fog and Russian forces had just dropped two gliding bombs on the city With Russia slowly advancing across the front line and the level of destruction only increasing the situation for people in cities like Krasnohorivka can and will only get worse “If it was 20 years ago and they offered me to leave I would,” he remarked with a drawn-out sigh The road near Krasnohorivka on February 2, 2024 Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine. (Olena Zashko/The Kyiv Independent)Editor’s Note: The Kyiv Independent is grateful to our members and donors. This story wouldn’t have been possible without a donation from The Charles Douglas-Home Memorial Trust Aila Slisco is a Newsweek night reporter based in New York Her focus is on reporting national politics where she has covered the 2020 and 2022 elections the impeachments of Donald Trump and multiple State of the Union addresses Other topics she has reported on for Newsweek include crime public health and the emergence of COVID-19 Aila was a freelance writer before joining Newsweek in 2019 You can get in touch with Aila by emailing a.slisco@newsweek.com The Ukrainian military claims to have taken control of a city in the embattled Donetsk region on the same day that it purportedly eliminated more than 1,000 Russian troops from the battlefield deputy commander of Ukraine's Third Assault Brigade said in a Telegram post on Wednesday that Russian forces had been pushed out of Krasnohorivka a city on the western outskirts of the region's eponymous capital as part of a "counterattacking" effort in response to a series of recent setbacks "The third assault unit knocked out the occupiers from Krasnohorivka in Donetsk region!" the brigade wrote in a separate Telegram post "The Russians refused to surrender and were liquidated in the houses they occupied Krasnohorivka is under the control of Ukrainian troops!" The purported capturing of the city follows Ukraine's February 17 loss of Avdiivka, a city about 18 miles to the northeast of Krasnohorivka, which occurred after months of fighting. Ukraine also retreated from two other villages near Avdiivka earlier this week The Third Assault Brigade claimed that Russian forces suffered at least 100 casualties including deaths and service ending-injuries The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported in a post to Facebook on Wednesday that Russia had a total of 1,060 casualties on the same day while suffering equipment losses that included 20 artillery systems and 14 tanks Newsweek reached out for comment to the Russian Ministry of Defense via email on Wednesday night Ukraine claims that Russia has lost a total of 412,610 military personnel since the invasion began on February 24 Newsweek has not independently verified any of Ukraine's war claims At least 19 Russian personnel were purportedly killed in the strike pro-Moscow bloggers have become "increasingly concerned that Ukrainian forces are able to exploit poor Russian operational security practices." Regardless of the taking of Krasnohorivka and casualties inflicted on Russian forces, there is little doubt that Moscow has gained the upper hand in the war in recent weeks senior intelligence analyst at security firm Global Guardian previously told Newsweek that the situation in Donetsk shows that Ukraine is "both outmanned and outgunned along the front" and "needs to adopt an active defense strategy." Ukraine's recent difficulties on the battlefield were preceded by the flow of foreign military aid slowing to a trickle at the beginning of the year. Around $60 billion in additional U.S. aid remains stalled in Congress amid a series of partisan disputes that may be especially difficult to resolve during an election year British Admiral Sir Tony Radakin, head of the U.K.'s Armed Forces, suggested during an event in London on Tuesday that Ukraine may be unable to launch another large counteroffensive effort until next year Radakin said that Kyiv is "struggling in terms of its ammunition and its stockpiles." A Russian military vehicle whose unconventional adaptation has earned it the nickname of "turtle tank" features in a video purportedly going behind enemy lines in eastern Ukraine However, in posting the clip on X, a journalist with German newspaper Bild questioned how such a tank had managed to transport Russian troops unharmed while coping with Ukrainian artillery fire Russian engineers have been spotted fitting crude metal structures on their tanks to offer better protection from anti-tank fire Ukrainian source video - with funny music for some reason. pic.twitter.com/lhWD5Gf2eT Drone footage released on April 9 showed what was reportedly a T-72 tank with the additional armor moving through a field around the Donetsk town of Krasnohorivka One social media user dubbed it a "Ninja turtle tank," noting how "the world's 2nd greatest army (is) desperately seeking solutions." Röpcke shared a video which lasted more than two minutes of a tank scurrying across open ground near a settlement he said was in the same area the type everyone laughed about—transporting Russian invasion forces to central Western Krasnohorivka under intense Ukrainian artillery fire—unharmed—and returning to base," the journalist wrote to his 174,000 followers Where are Ukrainian defenders?" Röpcke said questioning in a follow-up post why the footage which he said had been uploaded by a Ukrainian source had the jaunty music of the theme tune to the 1970s TV series The Benny Hill Show he posted a still image from the clip of the tank "direct 155 mm DPICM (dual-purpose improved conventional munition) hit without visible effect." Newsweek has contacted the Russian and Ukrainian defense ministries for comment about the unverified and undated video Russian military blogger Colonel Cassad had earlier posted the video on his Telegram channel saying that Moscow's troops entered Krasnohorivka "ride around...and reach the factory building in the center," before "calmly leaving." "The crew has balls of steel," the post said But there are questions about the effectiveness of the metal sheets which cover the tank's body so much that it has difficulty in turning its gun, as seen in a separate video uploaded by the open-source intelligence Telegram channel CyberBoroshno. In noting the emergence of at least three such "turtle tanks" in recent weeks The War Zone said in an article published Tuesday it was unclear if any of the vehicles had additional protection to shield the open front and rear ends of the tanks "Not doing so would seem to call into question the utility of installing the additional top covering in the first place which also severely limits the traverse of the tank's turret and the crew's overall situational awareness," the publication said adding that the weight and ungainly structure would also hamper mobility The world is facing “a moment of peril,” UN Secretary-General António Guterres told a General Assembly session on Wednesday dedicated to the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine “It is time for restraint, reason and de-escalation. There is no place for actions and statements that would take this dangerous situation over the abyss”, he said dialogue and negotiations to save the people in Ukraine and beyond from the scourge of war He also encouraged all parties to make full use of Article 33 of the UN Charter and its “diverse instruments of pacific settlement of disputes” The Secretary-General described the latest developments as “a cause of grave concern” including reports of increased ceasefire violations across the contact line and “the real risk of further escalation on the ground” While acknowledging that the history of the conflict is complex he underscored that in the present situation one thing is clear: “The decision of the Russian Federation to recognize the so-called ‘independence’ of Donetsk and Luhansk regions – and the follow-up – are violations of the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine and inconsistent with the principles of the Charter of the United Nations” Mr. Guterres emphasized that Russia’s actions are also inconsistent with the Declaration on Principles of International Law Concerning Friendly Relations – a landmark resolution adopted by the Assembly more than half a century ago The so-called Friendly Relations Declaration sets out several vital principles that are “highly relevant” to today’s session The UN chief highlighted the principle of sovereign equality of States affirming that their territorial integrity and political independence are inviolable “Other General Assembly resolutions are also fully behind the sovereignty within its internationally recognized borders” The UN chief continued by describing the Minsk Agreements – the fragile peace process regulating the conflict in eastern Ukraine – as surviving “in an intensive care unit thanks to a number of life support devices.” “But now those devices have been disconnected” Guterres also flagged the need to preserve the integrity of peacekeeping which he spelled out only takes place “with the consent of the host country” Through its human rights and humanitarian work the Organization continues to support the Ukrainian people “Our Human Rights Monitoring Mission has seven offices throughout the country – on both sides of the contact line – documenting civilian casualties and reporting on allegations of human rights violations” Flagging that UN humanitarian operations are “independent of whoever might control the territory where people are living” he pointed out that even before this latest escalation two million Ukrainians had needed humanitarian assistance we and our partners have delivered 140 metric tons of life-saving aid across the contact line” UN humanitarian assistance is guided by the four principles of humanity and independence – all central to establishing and maintaining access to affected people including those in the context of an armed conflict “Our humanitarian agencies are committed to staying and delivering to support the people in Ukraine and are ready to adjust and reprioritize their operations as necessary” the UN chief warned that if the conflict in Ukraine expands “the world could see a scale and severity of need unseen for many years” “I urge all sides to allow safe and unimpeded access by humanitarian agencies including in non-Government controlled areas of eastern Ukraine,” he said urging all parties to uphold their obligations under international humanitarian law the Secretary-General reiterated his full commitment to supporting all efforts to “resolve this crisis without further bloodshed” “We cannot and will not relent in the search for a peaceful solution” Assembly President Abdulla Shahid told the participants that if the last 76 years of the UN’s existence has taught us anything it is that that “lasting peace is not achieved nor sustained by military engagements He urged the Member States to “deploy the tools that we have to resolve disputes…give priority to diplomacy good offices and mediation… [and] give peace all the chance it deserves” “I call on the parties to intensify their negotiations and deescalate the current trajectory through dialogue” Ukraine Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said that while hope for peace concrete and resolute actions” relevant to the threat level of “Russia’s aggressive course,” he stated on behalf of more than 40 million Ukrainians who wish is to live in peace and prosperity Kuleba pointed out that the current crisis was created by one side unilaterally: Russia The Foreign Minister attested that Russian President Vladmir Putin “overtly denied Ukraine’s right to exist” saying that “we all need to admit the grim reality of a new aggressive and revanchist dictatorship rising over Europe”.  He asserted that Russia has attacked the UN’s fundamental principles of international peace and security and “the very existence of the Ukrainian State” “What is happening right now in the Eastern Ukraine where Russian forces are amassed in enormous quantities “I warn every nation…no one will be able to sit out this crisis if Putin decides that he can move forward with his aggression against Ukraine…[which] is why we need to use this last chance for action and stop Putin where he is It is clear that he will not stop by himself”.  The Ukrainian official asserted that Russia’s “propaganda machine is in full swing” creating a pretext for further aggression against his country “Russia has literally stuffed the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov with 46 military vessels…routinely closes large parts of the seas under the pretext of holding naval exercises [which] amounts almost to a blockade of Ukrainian seaports…and continues to block the release of illegally detained persons.” he upheld that Russia persists in destroying the identity of Ukrainians and the indigenous Crimean Tatars insisting that the situation there remains open and that Ukraine continues efforts to de-occupy Crimea “by peaceful means.” Reminding that Ukraine denuclearized in 1994 giving up the world's third largest nuclear arsenal he said: “The world owes Ukraine its security” “We expect the international community to do their best to put out the fire in the centere of Europe “Russia must withdraw its forces from the sovereign territory of Ukraine and stop destabilizing the international security situation.” started his speech with “a clarification” that the name “temporarily occupied territories” was incorrect as the meeting is actually about “the territories lost as a result of misanthropic politics” of Ukraine He went on to say that with Russia’s recognition of “the Luhansk People's Republic (LPR) and the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) Nebenzya said that the shelling of peaceful quarters of both have not stopped and that Kiev remains armed and continues to incite and encouraged violence He warned that at the request of Donetsk and Lugansk Russia will continue to monitor the regime ceasefire and that its armed forces will not tolerate violators I urge you today to focus your efforts on calming down Kiev and keeping it from new military adventures that could cost the whole of Ukraine dearly.” the Ambassador said With “great concern and sadness”, the UN political and peacebuilding chief opened an emergency Security Council meeting on Monday night about the “unfolding dangerous situation in and around Ukraine”. You don't have permission to access the page you requested. What is this page?The website you are visiting is protected.For security reasons this page cannot be displayed. Notifications can be managed in browser preferences. Driven back in other areas, Russian forces are bombarding this part of Ukraine, with towns and villages caught in the crossfire, as Kim Sengupta reports from Krasnohorivka I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our Privacy notice Dense acrid smoke is still rising from a school destroyed by a missile strike when mortar rounds come in, spraying shards of jagged steel and scattering a crowd that has gathered to receive aid in the town square. A moment of stillness follows, with just the rustling of a light autumn breeze, before those who have thrown themselves to the ground begin slowly to get up, shaking dust off their clothes, and to look around for others. Children cry, families and friends anxiously call out to each other. There are some injuries, but none of them are severe – quite surprising considering the force of the blasts. “God protected us all today,” says one woman, crossing herself before gathering her two small daughters into her arms. The late-morning attack is a predictable and violent routine in this town on a section of the front line near Avdiivka. Daily runs by the emergency services take the wounded – and at times, the dead – to the hospital in nearby Kurachove, and further afield to Dnipro. Forty minutes later comes a blast in another part of town. We go there, with two members of the “White Angels” police team, to find a large, deep crater in the road. There are no casualties, but a crowd says a local woman has not been seen since another bout of shelling two days earlier. During a search of the houses, we find Natalya lying face-down in her kitchen. She looks still, and the initial fear is that she has died. But then there is a slight tremor: she has survived, wounded and shivering from hypothermia though she is. Natalya is silent at first, staring around in panic. Then she begins to whisper between sobs: “No one came until now. I am hurting. It has been so cold, so cold ... I am afraid. I don’t want to die here, lying like this by myself.” Major Vasilyi Pipa and Captain Yevgeny Afendikov administer first aid and place Natalya in an insulating wrap. “It’s a great relief that she is still alive, but it’s really surprising after two days,” says Major Pipa. “She needs to be taken back quickly for treatment now; the doctors will do what they can. But they are going to keep getting hit here. It’s just too close to the border.” As they face major reverses elsewhere, Russian forces are attempting to capture Avdiivka and Bakhmut. Both cities are enduring ceaseless missile and artillery assaults, and towns and villages around them are getting caught in the crossfire. On the way to Krasnohorivka, it is possible to see separatist-held Donetsk city; some stretches of road are just 300 metres from Russian positions. “Small arms fire range,” explains Capt Afendikov after some gunshots come our way. “But don’t worry, this is a very short bit, we will drive fast, we do this all the time.” The White Angels are a police unit who, on top of their regular duties, engage in combat against Russian and separatist forces, and even carry out firefighting, ambulance and bomb disposal duties. Their name was given to them by local people because of the colour of the vehicles they drive and their impressive record of saving those who are injured and trapped following attacks. “It’s too dangerous for the ambulance and fire crews to go to these places, so we have had to extend what we do,” says Major Pipa. “We have had to do things we never thought we’d be doing, like dealing with like bombs which haven’t gone off. “We have had some difficult situations, under fire and colleagues injured. We have got a few armoured vehicles, but we can do with more – the rest are just ordinary vans.” The pair are called to a ground-floor apartment where there is, indeed, unexploded ordnance. A 3ft-long shell, which looks like a howitzer round, has come through the back wall. The officers move it, with the help of the homeowner, to a ditch further on at the side of the road, laying it neatly next to three others. “It’s a question of being very careful,” says Major Pipa. “They will be collected and disposed of by the special squad. They are too busy to come and collect from each location, this is such a busy area for fighting.” Krasnohorivka was briefly captured by separatists in the 2014 conflict that led to the creation of the so-called People’s Republics of Donetsk and Luhansk. It was retaken by Ukrainian forces later that year, but is now once again a place of strife. Dmitryi Nelypa, the surgeon in charge of the trauma unit at Kurachove Hospital, recalls the conflict eight years ago. “This time it is far worse,” he says. “We are seeing so many cases with damage caused by shelling and aviation rockets. Some of these attacks might be mistakes, but there are too many of them not to think they are deliberate. “We have got enough medical supplies with international and domestic help at the moment. But we also have to think of the future. The rate at which our forces are advancing means they may well liberate Donetsk. I don’t know the state of healthcare there now, but that is a possible emergency we have to bear in mind.” Most of Krasnohorivka’s pre-war population of 16,000 have left. But a few thousand are determined to hang on, despite the dangers. Alexandra Chernikova is among those who stayed behind despite pleas from her son to join him in Dnipro. The barrage of missiles that brought down the school left her with leg injuries. “I had gone into the garden when the rockets came,” she recounts. “One landed very close to me, it seemed to be just five or six metres away. There was a very loud noise, a flash of light, and then there was a big gash in my thigh. There was a lot of blood.” Alexandra, 43, wants to go back home after receiving treatment at the hospital. “I have lots of animals to look after,” she says. “Not just my own, but those of my neighbours who have left. I can’t abandon them. I moved here from Donetsk in the last war. We can’t just keep moving all our life. I am sure our forces will push back the Russians and we will get fewer aviation bombs in the future.” Valentina Romanenka is being taken back to Krasnohorivka by the White Angels after hospital treatment following a missile strike. She and her husband are also from Donetsk, and their two daughters continue to live in the separatist region. “We are both getting bombed, them in Donetsk and us here,” she says. “This is a terrible war. It has been going on for month after month. We hope it will end soon, but we are not optimistic... how can we be?” Valentina, 62, spent two weeks with her daughters in Donetsk when the borders were still open last autumn. She doesn’t know when they will see each other again. “One of the few pleasures of getting old is seeing your grandchildren grow up,” she laments. “We can’t do that. It is so cruel.” Valentina and her husband, Viktor, also want to stay in Krasnohorivka. On Sunday, 24 hours after she returned from hospital, there was further shelling, and Viktor had to be evacuated with injuries to his shoulder and arm. Maya Chickonenko, 75, and her husband Anatoly, 81, are deciding whether to stay on. Anatoly needs constant medical care after a stroke. Major Pipa tries to convince him that he needs to be in a city, such as Dnipro, but Anatoly is loath to leave his home. “We have been married for 49 years and we hoped we would be here for our 50th anniversary and the rest of what’s left of our lives,” says Maya. “But it looks like that may not be possible. I will try to persuade Anatoly that we have to leave for a while and then come back.” Two explosions are heard not far away. “More bombing, that will help make up his mind perhaps,” muses Maya. “But I am not sure what we will find still left if we ever get back.” Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies {"adUnitPath":"71347885/_main_independent/gallery","autoGallery":true,"disableAds":false,"gallery":[{"data":{"title":"majorvasylpipa.JPG","description":"Vasilyi Pipa of Ukraine’s White Angels, a volunteer group helping with everything from evacuating residents to bomb disposal in Ukraine","caption":"Major Vasilyi Pipa of Ukraine’s White Angels, a police unit that now deals with everything from evacuating residents to bomb disposal Major Vasilyi Pipa of Ukraine’s White Angels, a police unit that now deals with everything from evacuating residents to bomb disposal govt and politics/politics","score":0.651332},{"label":"/law govt and politics/armed forces/army","score":0.637011},{"label":"/law Russian forces are bombarding this part of Ukraine with towns and villages caught in the crossfire as Kim Sengupta reports from Krasnohorivka The US has recently announced that it would ship cluster bombs to Ukraine The announcement has generated serious debates as cluster bombs have been a subject of widespread concern and opposition and are in fact banned by more than 100 states that are signatories to the Convention on Cluster Munitions nor Ukraine or the United States are part of this crucial international convention Russia has been reportedly using cluster munitions in Ukraine ever since the early days of the conflict This raises serious concerns about the safety of the Ukrainian civilian population as the deployment of these bombs are known to have devastating consequences The reason for the widespread ban and growing concern surrounding cluster munitions is that they tend to kill and injure civilians as well cluster munitions are not single shells; instead they consist of a dispersive mechanism that releases numerous grenade-like bomblets mid-air many of these smaller submunitions fail to detonate upon landing remaining in the ground for extended periods posing a threat to the civilian populations be they farmers Large areas may remain risky to access for extended periods of time due to the presence of these unexploded bomblets standard ‘unitary’ explosives are more suitable for targeting fortified structures and objects Considering the need to economise resources and maximise military effectiveness it makes little sense to use shells designed for demolishing buildings against dispersed infantrymen and vehicles the weaponry the US is going to send to Ukraine is based on a much superior technology What is also important to recognise is that in the case of war An armed conflict is a confrontation of two wills and all military plans that failed to take into account the enemy’s reaction to their actions have failed historically Only when the enemy’s strength is severely weakened can one side formulate plans without constant concern for the other’s response both Russia and Ukraine are far from exhausting themselves to the point they can’t resist the action of the enemy or adequately respond to it The situation remains complex and its developments largely unforeseeable; no one can predict how the war will end singling out a weapon that causes serious collateral damage with the hope of achieving victory with its help is a suboptimal strategy Even if the international community perceives one of the fighting sides as holding the moral high ground it is essential not to treat any party as uncriticisable If it is indeed true that the weaponry Ukraine is about to acquire has a significantly smaller dud rate than its Russian equivalent then that of course is good news for the Ukrainian population that has already suffered so much as well as for the post-war reconstruction of Ukraine we should not turn a blind eye to any potential wrongdoings on Ukraine’s part by holding it to a standard different from its adversary Hungarian Conservative is a quarterly magazine on contemporary political philosophical and cultural issues from a conservative perspective Ukrainian soldiers were able to successfully eliminate part of the assault groups of the Russian army which managed to break into a refractory plant in the city of Krasnohorivka He noted that 11 assaults were recorded in the Krasnohorivka area only during the last day there were two counter-fights and about 120 drops from enemy drones The Russian army continues to storm the city of Krasnohorivka in small groups from time to time isolated groups try to enter the eastern outskirts of Krasnohorivka on armoured vehicles But most often they go on foot or groups with reduced mobility on motorcycles Ukrainian soldiers destroyed all the enemy's attempts to enter the city with the fire of artillery and mortars Ukrainian soldiers managed to eliminate part of those groups that broke into the refractory plant in Krasnohorivka And those who remained are in a difficult situation Since they are practically deprived of the supply of ammunition and the support of armored vehicles said the OSTG "Khortytsia" spokesman The total combat losses of the Russians from 02.24.22 to 05.09.24 approximately amounted to: armoured combat vehicles — 14,281 (+35) units anti-aircraft warfare systems — 793 (+1) units UAV operational-tactical level — 9,775 (+47) units vehicles and fuel tanks — 16,618 (+69) units The most important from online.ua in your mail By staying online, you consent to the use of cookies files which help us make your stay here even better  Based on your browser and language settings you might prefer the English version of our website The press service of the National Police of Ukraine said this in a statement posted on Telegram "The enemy fired from Tornado-S multiple rocket launchers at a residential neighborhood of Krasnohorivka Russian troops used banned cluster munitions The munitions fell in the middle of the streets of the private sector the police have surrounded the dangerous area," the statement said Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the beginning of an all-out invasion of Ukraine Russian troops have been shelling and destroying critical infrastructure residential areas of Ukrainian cities and villages using artillery multiple rocket launchers and ballistic missiles While citing and using any materials on the Internet links to the website ukrinform.net not lower than the first paragraph are mandatory citing the translated materials of foreign media outlets is possible only if there is a link to the website ukrinform.net and the website of a foreign media outlet Materials marked as "Advertisement" or with a disclaimer reading "The material has been posted in accordance with Part 3 of Article 9 of the Law of Ukraine "On Advertising" No 1996 and the Law of Ukraine "On the Media" No 2023 and on the basis of an agreement/invoice Online media entity; Media identifier - R40-01421 Головна Сторінка » English stories » «We Do Not Have Enough Men To Hold The Positions.» The Frontline Is Advancing Towards Pokrovsk Journalists from Slidstvo.Info spoke with soldiers from three units holding the line from Krasnohorivka to Zhelanne and volunteers from the Vostok SOS charity foundation who are evacuating civilians from towns and villages now nearing the frontline Distance from Pokrovsk to the frontline (Donetsk region) / Source: DeepState The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine describes the Pokrovske sector as the most challenging at present Nearly a third of the enemy’s offensives are concentrated there with the frontline shifting daily in a manner unfavourable to Ukraine The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine describes the Pokrovske sector as the most challenging at present the enemy advanced more than 7 kilometres in the vicinity of Zhelanne village in the Pokrovsk district progressing along the railway from the village of Prohres The Russians succeeded in breaching the Ukrainian army’s defences in this area by exploiting the gap between Ukrainian units battalion commander of the 47th Separate Mechanised Brigade “Mahura” call sign “Genius,” told Slidstvo.Info “We entered this area when stabilisation was already needed These include establishing defensive positions we had to work on creating an area that would hinder the enemy’s advance and complicate their movement it turned out that they (the Russians — ed.) reached a section of the railway without any hindrance – the railway was not blocked by anything,” explains Oleksandr We report on the war as it unfolds. Support our mission by becoming a sponsor of our coverage! Additionally, according to the 47th Brigade commander, the Russians are advancing so rapidly in this area due to their significant numerical advantage. Rob Lee, a former US Marine officer and expert on Russian military strategy at King’s College London, shares this view “A Russian soldier we recently captured told us about their current tactics a group of five soldiers is sent to storm a position and if the first group fails to report back within a certain time and communication is lost they are likely already ‘200th’ and then ten fighters are sent instead of five This is how they wear us down,” says Shyrshyn The same tactic of “exhausting” assaults by small groups according to the fighters interviewed by Slidstvo.Info journalists was employed by the Russians in the area of the now-occupied village of Umanske and near Krasnohorivka “They sent small groups of five men to storm positions one after another This new group could then carry out tasks and continue the assault,” says Andriy Kobalia a UAV platoon commander with the 109th Brigade of the Tank Corps whose unit held the line in the area of the now-occupied village of Umanske (which was occupied by the Russians on 25 May 2024) The enemy’s losses were many times greater “I don’t think we’ve seen anything like this since the Second World War and most of them die,” says Andriy Kobalia The 59th Separate Motorised Infantry Brigade also told Slidstvo.Info journalists that the Russians have brought significant reserves to this area and are not concerned about their losses “Our brigade alone killed 2,960 occupants in June and about 2,300 in July — this is in the area from Karlivka and Nevelske to Krasnohorivka We simply do not have enough men — infantry — to hold our positions,” said one of the officers of the 59th Brigade we have only a few houses left under our control in this settlement (Krasnohorivka — ed.).” The fighting for Krasnohorivka has been ongoing since late April The construction of fortifications in Donetsk Oblast is “almost complete,” according to Vadym Filashkin, head of the Donetsk regional military administration, in an interview with Glavkom and other fortifications were constructed in parallel in the areas of Hrodivka I believe this was intended to be the second line or some sort of auxiliary or rear line behind Pokrovsk it will soon become the main line,” says the UAV platoon commander of the 109th Brigade of the Territorial Defence Forces Filashkin noted that since the beginning of the full-scale invasion approximately 2.6 billion hryvnias have been spent on fortifications from the regional and local budgets of the Donetsk region The construction involves the local military administration “We are constantly working to build dugouts; we’ve been doing this every day since October so there is a second line,” one of the officers of the 59th Separate Motorised Infantry Brigade told Slidstvo.Info the forced evacuation of families with children was announced in the Donetsk region head of the communications department of the National Police in Donetsk region and a member of the police evacuation team told Slidstvo.Info that approximately 4,000 children need to be evacuated from the oblast to safer areas “We have 20 evacuation teams operating continuously across the entire oblast The situation is very difficult in Hrodivka and Novohrodivka where the settlements are almost completely destroyed There have been powerful airstrikes on Hrodivka recently and the centre of the settlement is severely damaged we have recorded both civilian casualties and injuries in that area,” says Pavlo Dyachenko The Vostok SOS charity foundation also reports a significant increase in evacuation requests “People call me even at 23:00 asking for evacuation And this situation is not limited to the Pokrovske direction; it feels as though the entire Donetsk oblast is experiencing more intense fighting We have received requests from the Lyman and Toretsk directions as well We are also actively holding meetings with local authorities Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territories of Ukraine — ed.) and it’s clear they are very tense and expect large waves of evacuations this year,” says Yaroslav Kornienko head of the foundation’s evacuation department According to the National Police, during the first three days of the forced evacuation 1,010 children from 756 families were evacuated from 28 settlements in Donetsk oblast READ ALSO: ‘I Have Seen Hell, and the Name of It is “Krynky” — Fighters Who Held the Village on the Left Bank and Disappeared There Slidstvo.Info agency traced the path of the 27-year-old Viktoria uncovering the conditions of her detention in .. who for the first time shared her experience of imprisonment and what is .. The Command of the Ground Forces told Slidstvo.Info that Oscar was captured in Luhansk Oblast and has been .. 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Sans","Helvetica Neue",Corbel,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;} #article-stream-0 .quote-embed.font-size p #article-stream-0 .quote-embed .font-size p{font-size: 36px;}The 'turtle tank' in combat Just a day or so after the modified T-72 appeared on the front line around Krasnohorivka three-person tank sheltering in a hangar in Donetsk’s Petrovs'kyi district The strange tank’s brief front-line service tells an important and darkly funny story about battlefield improvisation and security But the same tragic story—tragic for the Russians that is—belies the Kremlin’s overall strategy in the 26th month of the wider war albeit at staggering cost in people and equipment The turtle tank apparently was an early-model T-72 with DIY anti-drone armor Where many crews on both sides of the Russia-Ukraine war add drone-defeating armor to their vehicles in the form of cages or slats the crew of the turtle tank installed a huge roof that extended out in front of the tank The struts supporting the roof prevented the turret from rotating more than a few degrees and also would have complicated any effort to maneuver on forested or urban terrain the installation left gaps between the tank and the shell: gaps that were more than wide enough for one of Ukraine’s hundreds of thousands of explosive drones to slip through the turtle tank survived its combat debut on Monday It led a column of armored vehicles on a quick jaunt through Ukrainian fire to drop off infantry near Krasnohorivka where the Russians are trying to advance as part of their winter-spring offensive the turtle tank pulled a U-turn and returned to its hangar was that Ukrainian drones were watching—and the turtle tank was that social-media users dug up a video—shot by a Russian soldier clearly—depicting the turtle tank in its hangar It was a simple matter for the Ukrainians to track the bizarre tank back to its home base match that base to the location in the older video and then pass the coordinates along to Ukrainian artillery batteries In building one of the weirdest DIY vehicles of the war the Russians got too famous for their own good And now the turtle tank is wreckage and its crew possibly dead or wounded it’s costing the Russians hundreds of troops and dozens of vehicles every day But it’s not clear anyone in any position of authority in Russia minds losing those people 2024 7:10 PM8 min readA local resident walks past apartment buildings destroyed by air bomb in the village of Ocheretyne not far from Avdiivka town in the Donetsk region by Alexander KhrebetLocal authorities in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk Oblast have stopped assessing the damage of Russia’s war Daily barrages of attacks make doing so both futile and extremely dangerous Russian forces launch up to 2,500 attacks daily at the embattled region’s towns and villages located along 165 miles of the front line, according to Donetsk Oblast Governor Vadym Filashkin “The entirety of Donetsk Oblast is under heavy fire the enemy has been striking people with guided aerial bombs,” Filashkin told the Kyiv Independent in an interview Nowhere in Ukraine is louder today than eastern Donetsk Oblast, which Russia has swarmed with its forces and military hardware since Februrary 2022 and even before after its troops invaded part of the region in 2014 Russian forces use all types of conventional weapons in the region ranging from hand grenades to ballistic missiles considered to be one of the strongest non-nuclear weapons ever developed Ukrainian infantry soldiers of the 23rd Mechanized Brigade walk to board an armored fighting vehicle MaxxPro to head toward the frontline in the Avdiivka direction (Roman Pilipey /AFP via Getty Images)The Kyiv Independent spoke with Filashkin about the difficulty in evacuating civilians in front-line areas building up fortifications to prevent further Russian advances and the devastation the war has wrought on Ukraine’s once-industrial powerhouse of a region Every tenth Ukrainian of the country’s estimated pre-war population of over 40 million lived in Donetsk Oblast before Russia first invaded Ukraine in 2014 Despite controlling 60% of the region, Russia illegally annexed Donetsk Oblast along with Luhansk It is unclear how many Ukrainians reside in Russian-occupied areas as many fled through Russia — the only way to escape the occupied area — either settling there or moving through it to get to mainly European countries Ukraine and Russia offer starkly contradicting accounts Kyiv has said roughly 300,000 people resided in the occupied areas of Donetsk Oblast as of summer 2022 while Moscow claimed the population exceeded 2.5 million President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy (2nd R) meets with the Head of the Donetsk Regional Military Administration reported on the elimination of the consequences of Russian shelling and the restoration of water supply in the settlements He also spoke about ensuring educational activities in the region and the construction of school shelters (Presidency of Ukraine/Anadolu via Getty Images)The governor said that the authorities are still trying to evacuate roughly 70,000 civilians that remain on the front lines in the oblast “There has been mandatory evacuation of Donetsk Oblast’s entire population and forced evacuation from the (front-line) Torеtsk and Ocheretyne communities,” Filashkin said adding that authorities also launched a forced evacuation of 24 kids from four settlements in the Kurakhove community Daily Russian attacks often result in casualties. A total of 1,930 people have been killed in Donetsk Oblast since February 2022 The actual casualty numbers are expected to be much higher as it’s currently impossible to calculate casualties in Russian-controlled Volnovakha and Mariupol a port city largely destroyed during a months-long siege The local authorities, the White Angels units of Ukraine’s National Police and emergency servicemen evacuate locals from red-zone — high-risk areas — while the military steps in when “the situation becomes very difficult,” said Filashkin (Olena Zashko/The Kyiv Independent)While the majority of internally displaced locals — over 500,000 people — moved to safer places within the region since 2014 Filashkin said Donetsk Oblast Military Administrations established dozens of humanitarian hubs in 17 regions across Ukraine Then the receiving (region) takes care of their accommodation and provides assistance,” said the governor there are those who want to stay home in the front-line towns while Russian forces get closer Delaying the decision to evacuate may result in death or life under occupation “Few people (among those who stay) want to evacuate but it may be impossible to reach them,” Filashkin said recounting that several locals sought evacuation from besieged Avdiivka and Russian forces fired on the only escape route Russia’s war is ubiquitous in Donetsk Oblast with many places lying in ruins resembling spitting images of World War II Daily barrages make it nearly impossible to assess the true extent of the devastation let alone embark on large-scale reconstruction efforts Local authorities have only been able to count a fraction of the housing destruction Broken windows in a civilian housing in Krasnohorivka (Olena Zashko/The Kyiv Independent)The governor said Russia’s war has destroyed and damaged at least 116,000 residential buildings including over 7,000 high-rise apartment blocks prioritizing essential power lines and running water and patching up rooftops where people still reside A thorough assessment of the damage to the region's heavy industry which previously accounted for about 20% of Ukraine's industrial output the industrial outlook is bleak as all major plants and factories are destroyed and corroding in the open air Large enterprises have been almost completely destroyed Only small and medium-sized businesses remain,” said Filashkin the governor remains optimistic about post-liberation reconstruction in the region The only big construction underway in Donetsk Oblast so far is fortifications built up to hinder the Russian offensive Ukraine is building 1,240 miles of fortifications across three lines of defense President Volodymyr Zelensky announced on March 11 While he wouldn’t say how long the defensive lines in Donetsk Oblast are exactly Filashkin says they are within proximity to the Russian forces President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy (front) meets with the Head of the Donetsk Regional Military Administration (Presidency of Ukraine/Anadolu via Getty Images)“We have a very small distance from the enemy there We’ve pushed the third defense line as close as possible to the second because we want to hold onto every piece of our land,” said the governor Filashkin says the regional military administration also aims to save the lives of construction workers who “work constantly,” as the Russian forces often target the second and third defensive lines The governor also said the fortifications are reinforced with installed concrete and wooden dugouts He declined to divulge further information on fortification construction citing the threat of gliding bomb attacks targeting construction sites “Donetsk Oblast is very dangerous… Thank God no region endures the same hellish experience as Donetsk Oblast.” Alexander Khrebet is a reporter with the Kyiv Independent alleged abuse of power in the country’s military leadership and reports on the Russian-occupied territories Alexander is the European Press Prize 2023 winner the #AllForJan Award 2023 winner and Ukraine's 2022 National Investigative Journalism Award finalist His was published in the Washington Times and Atlantic Council This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks The action you just performed triggered the security solution There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase You can email the site owner to let them know you were blocked Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page by The Kyiv Independent news deskThe aftermath of Russian attacks in Donetsk Oblast overnight on March 10 (Governor Vadym Filashkin / Telegram)Ten people were injured after Russian forces targeted the city of Myrnohrad in Donetsk Oblast overnight on March 10 with three missiles acting head of the local city administration "Three missile strikes. Three craters in one location within a radius of 20 meters. Ten residential high-rise buildings are heavily damaged. One entrance of a nine-story building is damaged to the extent that it is uninhabitable and requires major restoration," Tretiak said Three of the injured were also hospitalized According to regional governor Vadym Filashkin, Russian forces used S-300 missiles to strike Myrnohrad Populated areas across Donetsk Oblast were targeted 11 times over the past 24 hours were evacuated to safety from front-line areas We are the news team of the Kyiv Independent We are here to make sure our readers get quick essential updates about the events in Ukraine Feel free to contact us via email with feedback and news alerts the enemy opened fire on 8 settlements in the region — the cities of Krasnohorivka 27 civilian objects were damaged - 11 residential buildings Three attacks were carried out by Ukrainsk in which the Russians were hit by an air bomb “UMPB — D30SM” a missile “S-300” and a “Hurricane” missile Three apartment buildings and a business were damaged As a result of artillery shelling in Krasnogorovka Another civilian was killed by the Russian forces in Novoalexandrovka the invaders struck from the S-300 air defense system - wounded a civilian damaged 4 apartment buildings and an educational institution the occupiers dropped UMPB D-30 CM air bombs on Selydova There was no information about the victims Police and SBU opened criminal proceedings under Art 438 (violation of laws and customs of war) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine We use cookies to provide you with better navigation on our website you automatically agree to the use of these technologies.