Russian troops have captured the Ukrainian fortified town of Donetsk, known as New York, after months of fierce fighting, and are preparing to attack Pokrovsk.
According to the RIA Novosti news agency on August 19, Russian troops have gained full control of the town of New York in Donetsk. For months, Ukraine had turned this town into a major fortress against Russian attacks.
In June of this year, Moscow's forces launched a large-scale offensive on New York and the neighboring Toretsk region, a cluster of mostly industrial towns with Toretsk at its center. This effort was part of a series of offensives in Donbas, aimed at seizing all the territory of the regions that Russia has annexed and calls the Donetsk People's Republic and the Lugansk People's Republic.
According to Russian media, in early July, Russian forces captured the town center while pushing Ukrainian troops back to the northern outskirts. Now, the northern part of the town is also under Russian control.
Capturing New York would open a path toward Toretsk, another major Ukrainian stronghold in Donbas. Both towns have been heavily fortified by Ukrainian forces since conflict erupted in the region following the Western-backed Maidan coup in 2014.
New York and Toresk are both located less than 20km from Gorlovka, a key town in Donbas where separatist militias in Donetsk seized positions in 2014. As a result, Ukraine has turned these towns into part of a crucial defensive line.
Gorlovka was frequently shelled in the years leading up to the start of the full-scale conflict between Russia and Ukraine in February 2022. By mid-2017, the city had reported 235 civilian deaths related to the conflict with separatist forces.
The town of New York was founded in the 19th century, and the origin of its distinctive name remains unclear. Some media reports speculate the name is related to the town's original inhabitants – Mennonites from Germany. Others suggest a retired Russian officer decided to name his property after the famous American city. In 1951, the Soviet authorities renamed it Novgorodskoye, meaning "New Town" in Russian. In 2021, the Ukrainian parliament restored New York's historical name.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian forces in the city of Pokrovsk, also in Donbas, remain in a state of emergency. On August 19, Ukraine ordered families with children to evacuate Pokrovsk due to fears of an impending Russian attack on the city.
Ukrainian officials said that Russian troops were advancing so rapidly that families had to flee Pokrovks and other nearby towns.
Russian troops have closed in on Pokrovsk after six months of intense offensives across Ukraine's Donetsk region since capturing the strategic city of Avdiivka.
The regional governor of Ukraine, Vadym Filashkin, stated on Telegram that an estimated 53,000 people, including nearly 4,000 children, remain in Pokrovsk and the surrounding area.
Serhiy Dobriak, head of the Pokrovsk military administration, also said that civilians only have “one or two weeks, no more” to leave the city as Russian troops are rapidly approaching. According to him, authorities are capable of evacuating at least 1,000 people per day, but currently only 500-600 are leaving daily.
* On the same day, August 19, the Commander-in-Chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Oleksandr Syrskyi, stated that “heavy fighting” was taking place in the Pokrovsk region. Earlier, officials warned that Russian troops were only 10 km from the outskirts of the city.
A curfew has been imposed in settlements near Pokrovsk, including Myrnohrad, Selydove, and Novohrodivka.
Over the past several months, Russian troops have been steadily advancing through the Donetsk region, gaining significant territory despite suffering heavy losses.
Ukraine's surprise invasion of Russia's Kursk province was reportedly aimed at stretching Russian forces on the Donbas front; however, in reality, the operation did not diminish Moscow's relentless offensives on the Ukrainian front.
According to VNA
Source: https://www.sggp.org.vn/nga-chiem-duoc-thi-tran-new-york-o-donbas-sau-nhieu-thang-giao-tranh-post754843.html
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