Russia ‘rapidly approaching’ key Ukraine city despite Kursk setback

CNN ^ | Aug 17, 2024 | Mariya Knight

[McGruff]

Russia is “rapidly approaching” a key military hub in eastern Ukraine, a local official has said, as Moscow continues its advances despite Kyiv’s surprise gains in its enemy’s Kursk region.

While Pokrovsk is not a major city – about 60,000 people lived there before the war and many have left since the start of the full-scale invasion – it serves as a key hub for the Ukrainian military thanks to its easy access to Kostiantynivka, another military center.

Ukrainian troops use the road connecting the two to resupply the front lines and evacuate casualties toward Dnipro.

Serhii Dobriak, head of the Pokrovsk city military administration, urged the community there to evacuate without delay.

[linMcHlp]

Occasionally, I take a look at:

Defense Politics Asia (DPA)
https://www.youtube.com/@DefensePoliticsAsia/videos

Using that source plus some online articles . . .

Despite Ukraine successes, Russia continues to grab Ukrainian soil.

Also, the Kursk Intrusion by Ukraine, has included at least three high-speed long-range recon-thrusts:

- one to the east-northeast
- one to the east-southeast
- one to the northwest thence to the east-northeast

Each recon-thrust gained 20 plus kilometers, but all three were crushed with heavy losses in equipment and a loss of about 90 - 120 troops total. AFAIK at present.

[McGruff]

Maybe Ukraine should replace it's current military leadership.

[TwelveOfTwenty]

I suspect the Kursk offensive is being allowed to get the Ukraine to commit their troops so the Russians can encircle and capture them, but Ukrainians don't appear to be taking the bait, hence the slow advance.

Apart from that, I can't make any sense out of this war.

[phil00071]

Did Anthony Blinken push Zelenskyy to invade Russia in order to show that “progress” is being made in the Ukraine war, heading into the November elections? It’s difficult to imagine that the incursion was launched without approval and encouragement from US and NATO officials.

[Apparatchik]

The Russians have another problem: the way they have been taking cities in Ukraine, based on lessons learned long ago in Chechnya, is to bombard the snot out of it, leveling it to the ground, and then occupying it. They cannot do this to Russian cities and they otherwise lack the vehicles to maneuver or around them or make rapid advances.

It’s kind of fun watching them flail around helplessly.

[canuck_conservative]

Maybe they just decided to use the weapons they were provided?

People hate just sitting around ... nothing like eliminating some of the evil invaders that are bombing your cities to boost morale!

[TwelveOfTwenty]

It’s kind of fun watching them flail around helplessly.

People are dying while the Russians and NATO test their weapon systems on Ukraine. There's nothing fun about that.

[kiryandil]

You’ll find that many of the FR Ukraine cheerleaders have intense bloodlust.

[PGR88]

Given that WaPo and NY Times have now proven that Ukraine destroyed the German Nordstream Pipeline, its time to invoke NATO article 5 and invade Ukraine.