Russia Claims Another Ukrainian Town In East As Fighting Also Intensifies In Zaporizhzhia

Russian forces on Sunday announced more advances in the vicinity of the strategic Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk, after weeks of steady gains and several villages recently being brought under Russia’s control.

The defense ministry said Russian troops have now taken the village of Mykhailivka, which lies just outside the town of Selydove and to the south of Pokrovsk.

Via Reuters/RFE/RL

Selydove could be next to fall. It has already been largely turned to rubble after months of heavy shelling, and most of the population had along ago fled.

Further details published in Newsweek show that Selydove is a current main focus of Russian forces:

In an update published at 4 p.m. local time, the Ukrainian General Staff did not mention Mykhailivka by name, but said Russian forces were “concentrating its main efforts near Selydove, where 12 battles have taken place so far.”

Popular Ukrainian war-tracking blog, DeepState, showed the vast majority of Mykhailivka to be under Russian control as of Sunday.

For the majority of the war, Pokrovsk has acted as the logistical hub and rear operations base for Ukraine’s eastern defensive lines. It sits astride both a key railroad juncture and the highway to Ukraine’s fourth-largest metro, Dnipro.

The city’s defensive positions are a final obstacle to Russia’s access to most of the region. If Pokrovsk falls Russian forces will be able to easily flank entrenched troops in the north and south of the country. Donetsk and the whole east would then be under complete Russian control.

Apart from Donetsk, heavy fighting has also been reported in southern Zaporizhzhia region this weekend. Ukraine’s military on Sunday is sounding the alarm over “new assault operations”.

Fresh widespread power outages have been reported in Zaporizhzhia as a result. “Power outages have been reported in Zaporizhzhia and Kherson oblasts over the past 24 hours due to ongoing hostilities,” local media reports.

NEW: Russian forces are reportedly relying on illicitly obtained Starlink terminals to improve combat coordination and the effectiveness of their tactical reconnaissance strike complex (TRSC) in Ukraine as part of an overarching effort to reach technological parity with Ukrainian… pic.twitter.com/kQpaZgOq8v

— Institute for the Study of War (@TheStudyofWar) October 12, 2024

“Russian forces targeted a substation in Kherson Oblast with a drone, igniting a fire that has since been extinguished,” the update continues. “Consumers have been switched to backup power supplies.”

President Zelensky over the weekend has touted that the Ukrainian Army has held the lines in Russia’s Kursk region; however, the Kursk offensive ultimately has no bearing on the situation in Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia. It is in these eastern and southern regions of Ukraine where the war’s outcome is likely to finally be settled.