25 votes

Last chance to escape: Ukrainians flee Pokrovsk as Russians advance

11 comments

  1. skybrian
    Link
    From the article:

    From the article:

    Those staying and those leaving wept in the thick August heat — stunned by how quickly Russian forces are advancing on Pokrovsk, a key supply hub in eastern Ukraine that until now was seen as a relatively safe fallback city, far enough from the front line to stay. Russian troops are now just eight miles from the city center, putting much of the area within range of attacks by artillery and first-person view drones.

    The Russian assault on Pokrovsk has continued even as Ukraine solidifies its control over a swath of land in Russia’s Kursk region far to the north, where Ukrainian troops — including some moved recently from Pokrovsk — launched a surprise attack earlier this month. Some civilians fleeing Thursday said they couldn’t understand why troops were moved away from their defensive positions to attack Russia, especially with the east in such desperate need of support.

    Troops fighting in the area said despite hopes the Kursk offensive would redirect Russian forces elsewhere, the advance on Ukraine’s east had only intensified in recent days.

    As of this week, more than 45,000 people remained in Pokrovsk, including more than 3,000 children, according to police data shared with The Washington Post. Civilians have been ordered to evacuate and many have fled in recent days or said they are making plans to leave.

    11 votes
  2. Raspcoffee
    Link
    How well Kursk will go, and whether Ukraine can manage to hold on Pokrovsk, is really going to be critical in the near future at least. :| If you look it up on liveuamap(while it's also worth...

    How well Kursk will go, and whether Ukraine can manage to hold on Pokrovsk, is really going to be critical in the near future at least. :| If you look it up on liveuamap(while it's also worth noting that frontlines are imperfect pretty much all the time), it shouldn't be difficult to see the bulge moving towards the city.

    “I really don’t want it to be captured,” he said of Pokrovsk. “Maybe they’ll redirect their troops to Kursk. Maybe it will get easier, and we can defend Pokrovsk longer. But as they’re coming now, with such intensity, damn, who knows.”

    What I really wonder is how Russia is managing Kursk and this offensive, as well as the other insanely long front, at the same time. They seem to be pretty strongly inclining to take all of Kursk back as quickly as possible, while assaulting Pokrovsk, and keep up with the rest of the front.

    I am of course speaking as nothing more than an armchair warlord and thus with no expertise, though it's difficult to imagine all of that succeeding. Really crossing my fingers Russia will fuck up the Pokrovsk assault in that process, but who knows.

    9 votes
  3. [2]
    Raspcoffee
    Link
    Putting this as a seperate comment to prevent flooding the main page with the war semi-megathread like... Moscow and Kyiv swap prisoners of war as Ukraine marks independence anniversary (APnews)...

    Putting this as a seperate comment to prevent flooding the main page with the war semi-megathread like...

    Moscow and Kyiv swap prisoners of war as Ukraine marks independence anniversary (APnews)

    Most likely a result of the Khursk offensive. While I know many prisoners most likely won't really be able to celebrate the holiday with their families, I'm still happy to see this happening.

    3 votes
    1. CptBluebear
      Link Parent
      They were semi upfront about the Kursk invasion being a success with the amount of captures they made, directly translating into prisoner swaps.

      They were semi upfront about the Kursk invasion being a success with the amount of captures they made, directly translating into prisoner swaps.

      4 votes
  4. KapteinB
    Link
    Ukraine receives 2S1 artillery systems from Finland I'm a bit surprised Finland has so much Soviet-made equipment, but they weren't a NATO member throughout the Cold War, so I guess they were free...

    Ukraine receives 2S1 artillery systems from Finland

    s been no official confirmation of the transfer from either side, the distinctive camouflage and specific features of the vehicles, previously acquired by Finland from East Germany, suggest they have been added to Ukraine’s arsenal.

    I'm a bit surprised Finland has so much Soviet-made equipment, but they weren't a NATO member throughout the Cold War, so I guess they were free to buy weapons from whoever they wanted to.

    3 votes
  5. [2]
    KapteinB
    Link
    Belarus uses aircraft to down Russian attack drone that flew into Belarus for first time (Ukrainska Pravda)

    Belarus uses aircraft to down Russian attack drone that flew into Belarus for first time (Ukrainska Pravda)

    For the first time, Belarus may have used aircraft to shoot down a Russian kamikaze drone that has flown into Belarus again.

    1 vote
    1. Raspcoffee
      Link Parent
      For the record, how accurate has this group been? It seems to be rather difficult for me to assess, with only access to the English and Dutch parts of the web. If it's accurate though, boy. Might...

      Source: Belaruski Hajun, a Belarusian independent military monitoring project

      For the record, how accurate has this group been? It seems to be rather difficult for me to assess, with only access to the English and Dutch parts of the web.

      If it's accurate though, boy. Might be an accident or improper reporting. Fog of war and all that. If it's not, that open a whole other load of questions.