FLASH
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Russia said its forces had pushed deeper into the eastern Ukrainian towns of Pokrovsk and Kupiansk on Tuesday, with video showing Russian soldiers entering Pokrovsk on motorbikes and even on the roofs of damaged cars and vans.
Moscow says taking Pokrovsk, dubbed the "gateway to Donetsk" by Russian media, would give it a platform to move north towards the two largest cities remaining under Ukrainian control in the Donetsk region, Kramatorsk and Sloviansk.
Russia has sought to capture Pokrovsk for more than a year, using a squeeze move to surround it and threaten supply lines, rather than the deadly frontal assaults it used to capture the city of Bakhmut in 2023.
Russian war bloggers published a video on Tuesday showing what they said were Russian forces entering Pokrovsk along a fog-shrouded road, in what some Telegram users said looked like a scene from the 1979 action film "Mad Max," which is set in a post-apocalyptic landscape.
The video showed Russian forces on motorcycles and in a strange assortment of other cars and vehicles. Many vehicles, without doors or windows, were shown driving along a road littered with debris as soldiers watched. Several Russian soldiers were seen sitting on the roof of a damaged vehicle. A drone was seen near the road.
Reuters was able to confirm the location of the video as Pokrovsk from the street plan, signs, utility tower and trees seen in the video, which matched archived and satellite images of the area. Reuters was not able to independently verify the date of the footage.
The Ukrainian military said about 300 Russian soldiers were inside Pokrovsk and that Moscow had intensified efforts to bring in more troops in recent days, using thick fog to provide cover for drones. It said Ukrainian forces were fighting Russian groups in the town.
In a sign of the intensity of the urban battle, Russia said it had taken 256 buildings and that Russian forces were actively advancing northwest and east of Pokrovsk, as well as around the railway station.
Moscow and Kiev have given different versions of the battle for Pokrovsk. Moscow has said for days that the city is surrounded, while Kiev has denied that Moscow controls the city and said on Monday that it was still able to supply neighboring Myrnohrad.
Open-source battlefield maps from both sides show that Russia executed a strong push around the city and was close to closing it in, although Kiev counterattacked around the town of Dobropillia.
Ukraine's top military commander, Oleksandr Syrskyi, in an interview with the New York Post, said Russia was concentrating about 150,000 troops in an attempt to capture Pokrovsk, with mechanized groups and naval brigades part of this offensive.
Russia said its forces had taken full control of the eastern part of Kupiansk in Ukraine's Kharkiv region. A Russian commander, who gave his call sign "Hunter," said his forces had taken control of an oil depot on the eastern edge of Kupiansk.
In a video statement from Russia's Defense Ministry, he said his forces had also taken control of a number of train stations along the railway to Kupiansk Vuzlovyi, a settlement located about 6 km south of the center of Kupiansk itself.
Russia also said its troops had taken control of the settlement of Novouspenivske in the southeastern Zaporizhia region. Ukraine withdrew from several villages, including Novouspenivske, due to intense attacks that included more than 400 artillery strikes a day, according to the RBC-Ukraine news agency, which cited a military spokesman.
Reuters could not independently verify battlefield reports from either side due to reporting restrictions and the danger of the war zone.
The Russian military says it now controls more than 19% of Ukraine, or about 116,000 square kilometers (44,800 square miles). Ukrainian maps tracking changes in the front line show Russian control at 19.1% of Ukraine, up from 18% nearly three years ago.
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