Russian troops have captured the fortified Ukrainian town of New York in Donetsk after months of fierce fighting, and are preparing to attack Pokrovsk.
According to Tin Tuc Newspaper, RIA Novosti news agency reported on August 19 that the Russian army has taken full control of the town of New York in Donetsk. This town has been turned into a large fortress by Ukraine for many months against Russian attacks.
In June, Moscow’s forces launched a large-scale assault on New York and the surrounding Toretsk region, a cluster of mostly industrial towns with Toretsk at its center. The effort is part of a continuing offensive in Donbas, aimed at seizing all of the territory in the regions that Russia has annexed and calls the Donetsk People’s Republic and the Lugansk People’s Republic.
According to Russian media, Russian forces captured the town center in early July while pushing Ukrainian troops to the northern outskirts. Now the northern part of the town is also under Russian control.
Capturing New York would open the way to Toretsk, Ukraine’s other major stronghold in Donbas. Both towns have been heavily fortified by the Ukrainian military since conflict erupted in the region following the Western-backed Maidan coup in 2014.
New York and Toretsk are both less than 20km from Gorlovka, a key town in Donbas where Donetsk separatist militias took up positions in 2014. As a result, Ukraine has turned the towns into part of a key defense line.
Gorlovka was frequently shelled in the years leading up to the start of a 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 that the name is related to the town’s original inhabitants, Mennonites from Germany. Others suggest that a retired Russian officer decided to name his estate after the famous American city. In 1951, the Soviet government changed the name to Novgorodskoye, which means “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, continue to be in a critical situation. On August 19, Ukraine ordered families with children to evacuate Pokrovsk because of concerns that the Russian army was about to attack the city.
Ukrainian officials said the Russian army was advancing so quickly that families were forced to flee Pokrovks and other nearby towns.
Russian troops have closed in on Pokrovsk after six months of heavy attacks across Ukraine's Donetsk region since capturing the strategic city of Avdiivka.
An estimated 53,000 people, including nearly 4,000 children, remain in Pokrovsk and the surrounding region, Ukraine's regional governor Vadym Filashkin said on Telegram.
The head of the Pokrovsk military administration, Serhiy Dobriak, also said that civilians had only “one or two weeks, no more” to leave the city as Russian troops were rapidly approaching. He said the authorities had the capacity to evacuate at least 1,000 people a day, but were currently only leaving 500-600 people a day.
* Also on August 19, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Oleksandr Syrskyi said that “heavy fighting” was taking place in the Pokrovsk region. Earlier, officials warned that Russian troops were just 10 kilometers from the city’s outskirts.
A curfew has been imposed in settlements located near Pokrovsk, including Myrnohrad, Selydove and Novohrodivka.
Over the past several months, Russian troops have been gradually advancing through the Donetsk region, gaining significant territory despite suffering heavy losses.
Ukraine's surprise invasion of Russia's Kursk province was supposed to stretch Russian forces on the fronts in Donbas, but in reality, the operation has not reduced Moscow's relentless attacks on the front lines in Ukraine.
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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