Ukrainian civilians told to evacuate eastern town as Russian troops close in on key target
Military authorities in the eastern Ukrainian town of Pokrovsk on Friday urged civilians to speed up their evacuation because the Russian army is quickly closing in on what has for months been one of Moscow’s key targets in the war.
The call for people to get out as soon as possible came as Kyiv’s forces are trying to divert the Kremlin’s military focus to Russian soil by launching a bold incursion across the border into the Kursk region.
The urgency also underscored the high-stakes gamble Ukraine is making by taking the war into Russia with its ongoing assault that started Aug. 6. The attack was a daring attempt to change the dynamics of the 2½-year conflict, but it could leave Ukraine’s shorthanded defence at the mercy of Russia’s push.
The Kremlin’s forces have had battlefield momentum and superior forces in Eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk region since the spring.
Strategists have noted Ukraine is wagering it can cope with the strain on its resources in Kursk without sacrificing Donetsk, while Russia apparently reckons it can contain the incursion without needing to ease up in Donetsk.
“Both cannot be right,” said Nigel Gould-Davies, a senior fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, on Thursday. “The outcome hangs in the balance.”
‘Advancing at a fast pace’
Russia’s slow slog across Donetsk this year has been costly in terms of troops and armour, but its gains have mounted up.
Pokrovsk, which had a pre-war population of about 60,000, is one of Ukraine’s main defensive strongholds and a key logistics hub in the Donetsk region. Its capture would compromise Ukraine’s defensive abilities and supply routes. It would bring Russia closer to its stated aim of capturing the Donetsk region than ever before.
Evacuations in the Donetsk region around Pokrovsk have become increasingly urgent in recent weeks.
Ukraine continues to hold and expand its control over Russian territory, nine days after it launched a surprise cross-border attack. Moscow says it will bring the incursion to an end, but there’s no sign of that happening yet.
Pokrovsk officials said in a Telegram post Friday that Russian troops are “advancing at a fast pace. With every passing day, there is less and less time to collect personal belongings and leave for safer regions.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had warned on Thursday that Pokrovsk and other nearby towns in the Donetsk region were “facing the most intense Russian assaults.”
“Priority supplies — everything that is needed — are being sent there,” Zelenskyy said on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.
That same day, authorities told people to start evacuating the town.
People offered shelter in western Ukraine
Pokrovsk officials were meeting with the residents to provide them with logistical details on the evacuation. People were offered shelter in western Ukraine, where they will be hosted in dormitories and separate houses prepared for them.
“As the front line approaches Pokrovsk, the need to move to a safer place is becoming increasingly urgent,” the local administration said.
In Kursk, meanwhile, Ukrainian troops have taken full control of Sudzha, Zelenskyy said Thursday. It’s the largest Russian town to fall to Ukraine’s forces since the start of their incursion 10 days ago, and the success raised Ukrainian spirits while embarrassing the Kremlin.
A family who fled from Sudzha showed on Russian state TV the shattered windows of their car, the result of an attack while on the road.
“At the turn they were shooting, there were mines, we drove around the mines. Then we were driving further, the drone hit us in Bondarevka,” said Nikolai Netbayev.
Published at Fri, 16 Aug 2024 12:11:37 +0000
Israel orders fresh Gaza evacuations, mediation talks to resume in Egypt next week
The Israeli army ordered people in south and central Gaza areas it had previously designated humanitarian safe zones to leave on Friday, saying Hamas had used the areas to fire mortars and rockets at Israel.
Residents in Deir al-Balah, an area still not entered by Israeli forces since the war began more than 10 months ago, said shelling had intensified and tanks had crossed a perimeter fence into the city.
Israel said warning flyers and text messages had been sent out in the eastern part of Deir al-Balah and another area north of the city of Khan Younis, where tens of thousands of people have sought shelter from fighting in other parts of Gaza.
“The advance warning to civilians is being issued in order to mitigate harm to the civilian population and to enable civilians to move away from the combat zone,” the military said in a statement.
Social media and Palestinian news footage, which Reuters could not immediately verify, showed hundreds of families streaming out of Deir al-Balah and Khan Younis on donkey carts, rickshaws and other vehicles laden with salvaged belongings.
Commenting on the new evacuation order, UNRWA, the main UN agency in Gaza, said people “remain trapped in an endless nightmare of death and destruction on a staggering scale.”
Most of Gaza’s 2.3 million population has been displaced multiple times since the start of the Israeli military campaign in the territory in October.
‘A dangerous moment’
The latest evacuation warnings came as negotiators in Doha ended two days of talks aimed at reaching a deal to halt the fighting in Gaza and bring Israeli and foreign hostages home. Talks will resume next week in Cairo, according to a joint statement from mediators Egypt, Qatar and the United States.
In a statement issued late on Thursday on Telegram, Hamas politburo member Hossam Badran said Israel’s continuing operations were an obstacle to progress on a ceasefire. Hamas officials did not join the talks.
WATCH l Humanitarian issues vital talks over ‘deteriorating’ Gaza: former U.S. envoy
David Satterfield, former U.S special envoy for Middle East humanitarian issues, says current negotiations are more complicated than any conflict he’s seen in his 45 years on the file.
The negotiations, an effort to end bloodshed in Gaza and bring 115 Israeli and foreign hostages home, were put together as Iran appeared poised to retaliate against Israel after the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran on July 31.
Gaps in a potential agreement include the presence of Israeli troops in Gaza, the sequencing of a hostage release and restrictions on the free movement of civilians from southern to northern Gaza.
The joint statement said mediators had addressed the gaps, without elaborating.
“The path is now set for … saving lives, bringing relief to the people of Gaza, and de-escalating regional tensions,” they said in the statement.
With U.S. warships, submarines and warplanes dispatched to the region to defend Israel and deter potential attackers, Washington hopes a ceasefire agreement in Gaza can defuse the risk of a wider regional war.
Separately, British Foreign Secretary David Lammy and French Foreign Minister Stéphane Séjourné were in the region and expected hold a joint meeting with Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz and Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer.
“This is a dangerous moment for the Middle East,” Lammy said. “The risk of the situation spiralling out of control is rising. Any Iranian attack would have devastating consequences for the region.”
Earlier, Israel’s military said it had hit an area in Khan Younis from where rockets were fired toward the Israeli community of Kissufim on Thursday, finding weapons including shoulder-fired missiles and explosives.
Gaza’s health ministry said Israeli military strikes across the enclave killed at least 17 Palestinians on Friday.
The assault on Gaza has killed more than 40,000 Palestinians, mostly civilians, according to Gaza health authorities.
The war started after a Hamas-led a raid on southern Israel on Oct. 7 in which Israel says the militants killed some 1,200 people, including several Canadian citizens, prompting Israel to attack Gaza in retaliation.
Fiery attacks in West Bank
Meanwhile, the White House said late on Thursday attacks by Israeli settlers on Palestinian civilians in the West Bank were “unacceptable and must stop,” after dozens of settlers assaulted a village, killing at least one person.
The Palestinian health ministry said one Palestinian was killed and another critically wounded by Israeli settlers’ gunfire during the incident in the village of Jit, the latest in a series of attacks by settlers in the West Bank.
Footage shared on social media showed cars and houses on fire following the attacks.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office issued a statement saying that “those responsible for any offence will be apprehended and tried.”
Palestinians regularly accuse Israeli security forces of standing by and allowing groups of violent settlers to attack their houses and villages and the incidents have attracted increasing concern internationally.
The U.S., Canada and a number of European countries have imposed sanctions on violent settlers and called repeatedly on Israel to do more to curb the attacks.
Published at Fri, 16 Aug 2024 10:11:55 +0000
